A New Service Provider for MSP and PharmaCare
Administration will:
- Improve
the service to the public and improve the protection of privacy and
personal information.
- Maintain
or improve service to health care professionals.
- Enable
the Ministry of Health Services to focus on its core business, which is to
provide leadership and governance, and act as stewards of the health
system, rather than providing direct service delivery.
- Avoid
up-front system development capital costs.
- Provide
cost certainty that will allow the ministry to plan and manage its budget
more effectively.
- Enable
government to continue to have ownership and control of all information,
set all policy, be accountable for all services and ensure personal
privacy is protected. This is alternative service delivery, not
privatisation.
Improving Service Levels
|
|
Current Service Levels
|
90 days after MAXIMUS BC assumes operations
|
|
|
September 2004
|
Six month average
|
|
Enrolment
|
64 per cent within 40 days
|
93 per cent within 40 days
|
99 per cent within 20 days
|
|
MSP Premium Assistance
|
100 per cent within 40 days
|
100 per cent within 40 days
|
99 per cent within 20 days
|
|
MSP Account Maintenance
|
48 per cent within 180 days
|
98 per cent within 180 days
|
99 per cent within 20 days
|
|
Phone Busy Rates
|
Over 53 per cent
|
Over 52 per cent
|
Average of two per cent
|
|
Average Phone Wait
|
Under three minutes
|
Under five minutes
|
Under three minutes
|
Medical
Services Plan
·
MSP,
established in 1965, processes claims for insured medical services submitted by
physicians and other health care practitioners, including laboratory services
and diagnostic procedures.
·
The process of registration with MSP has not
significantly changed in 30 years. The process is still largely paper-based,
despite an 80 per cent increase in B.C.’s population. As a result, over time,
services have deteriorated.
·
Improvements to the timeliness and quality of service
to the public are essential, as is improving privacy of personal information.
Accessing leading edge technology through alternative service delivery is
considered the most cost-effective, long-term solution.
·
The number of British Columbians covered by MSP (almost
all eligible residents of B.C.) has increased 19 per cent, from 3.3 million
people in December 1992 to four million people in December 2002. MSP receives
approximately 545 premium assistance applications daily and 138,000 enrolment
applications annually.
·
Premium assistance is provided to over 1.1 million
people in B.C.
- MSP
handles more than 800,000 paper forms annually, processing basic
applications, registrations and status changes. The paper-based system
creates delays and underscores the need for improved services.
PharmaCare
- The
PharmaCare program was initiated in 1974 and currently processes more than
26 million drug claims per year. In the last ten years, the number of
prescriptions processed by PharmaCare has risen 47 per cent from 10.68
million prescriptions to 15.76 million.
- PharmaNet
records all drug information and enables physicians and pharmacists to prevent
harmful drug interactions and tracks costs, for payments to pharmacists.
- Fair
PharmaCare provides financial assistance to British Columbia families for
their eligible prescription drugs.
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