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Doctors in walk-in clinics typically can’t charge incentive fees available to family physicians for managing chronic illnesses or complex cases because more than one doctor may see an individual patient over the course of a year.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., which regulates doctors in the province, released guidelines in 2015 requiring walk-in clinics to provide primary-care for their patients. That means keeping patient records, following up on results of tests they order and checking the province’s database of prescribed drugs, PharmaNet, to prevent abuse.

McLouglin said this gives walk-in clinics more responsibility without the benefit of incentives payments.

Doctors of B.C. — the professional association that negotiated the specialized payments with the provincial government — said they’re being applied correctly because the ideal situation is for patients to have a single doctor who knows them personally.

Statistics Canada stated that in 2013, 15 per cent of British Columbians over the age of 12 didn’t have a regular medical doctor. Applied to B.C.’s population today, that would total more than 600,000 people.

A joint effort by Doctors of B.C. and the provincial government over the past three years — called a GP for Me — has linked 178,000 patients with doctors.

Kelowna-based McLouglin, the business manager of Medi-Kel Family Practise and Walk-In Clinic, said that despite changes in the locations of walk-in clinics throughout B.C., the overall number is relatively stable. His association lists 310 walk-in clinics in the province now compared to 300 five years ago. Most new growth is in stores like Walmart where doctors don’t have to worry about renting their own space.

The trend toward big-box store locations won’t help people who work downtown, he added.

“A lot people live in the suburbs, but they work downtown and it’s much more convenient for them to be able to get health care downtown rather than change your schedule so you can see your family doctor back in the suburbs.”

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