CPSM Consultation on Collaborative Care
335 words / 1.5 min read
Physicians and the public are being asked for feedback by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (CPSM) on the new draft Standard of Practice – Collaborative Care aimed at improving the communication and acceptance of doctor-to-doctor consultation.
✅ Why it matters: More than one million medical referrals and requisitions are sent within Manitoba each year, most often through fax or mail. Current manual, paper- and fax-based systems make it difficult for referring physicians to know if requests were received and challenging for consulting physicians to respond in a timely way.
💡 What’s new: CPSM is consulting on three interrelated Standards. An overarching document called Collaborative Care outlines the guiding principles for all physicians, with a related standard guiding emergent, urgent, and inpatient requests, and another for non-emergent consultation requests.
- The three new proposed Standards are intended to more clearly define referring and consulting physician roles and communication requirements.
- A multi-disciplinary working group, including specialists, family physicians, and public representatives, spent more than two years updating the Standards.
Our take: We know referrals and consultations are a top frustration and administrative burden for physicians in Manitoba.
- New regulatory standards alone won’t fix the serious gaps in the health system that complicate referrals and consultations and hinder physician collaboration.
- However, the clearer roles and expectations for both referring and consulting physicians can serve as foundation, and Doctors Manitoba will be advocating strongly for provincial investments and resources to support more effective collaboration between physicians.
- Watch for a more detailed analysis and summary from us next week.
What’s next: CPSM is asking for feedback by Friday, February 13.
- You can send feedback directly to CPSM via the link below. We encourage you to copy us at practiceadvice@doctorsmanioba.ca, to help inform our response on behalf of the profession.
- Be sure to identify if you typically refer, consult, or both.
- If you don’t feel comfortable sending feedback directly to CPSM, you can send it to us in confidence instead.