New SMA president to focus on ER wait times, coming fee talks and unnecessary testing

Saskatoon - Emergency room wait times, upcoming negotiations with the province for a new physician contract and educating patients on medical test guidelines were some of the topics discussed at the Saskatchewan Medical Association Representative Assembly May 5 to 7. Dr. Joanne SivertsonThe Representative Assembly is made up of 80 physicians who are elected from specialty sections and regions across the province. They meet twice a year to consider health issues of interest to the medical profession and to set policy for the association.“We focused on ER waits and flows,” said newly-elected SMA president, Dr. Joanne Sivertson. “Our next steps are going to be focused outside of the ER. We need to do a better job of transitioning patients out of acute care and build teams to help us treat patients with chronic conditions and the elderly, who don’t need the hospital. Often, patients are in the hospital because it is the best place to provide care, but it is not the best place for them.“We need to build better teams outside of the hospital and use acute care in the way it is intended.”The group also launched Choosing Wisely Saskatchewan. Choosing Wisely aims to help clinicians and patients engage in conversations about unnecessary tests and treatments and make smart choices to ensure high-quality care.Choosing Wisely launched in the U.S. in 2012 to help cut unnecessary care, and started in Canada in 2014. In both countries, medical societies have come forward with lists of procedures, tests or medications that physicians should avoid. Choosing Wisely Canada is developing regions across the country to enable them to implement the elements most relevant to their regions.“We hope it will make conversation between physicians and patients easier and educate patients that more is not always better,” Sivertson said. “You read articles and you think everyone needs a full body scan every two years. But with more testing, we find things that are benign but lead to treatment. Choosing Wisely will raise awareness that we should be doing less and not more.”The RA also discussed the upcoming amalgamation from 12 health regions to one and how doctors will be involved in its design and governance. Saskatchewan joins other provinces that are abandoning regionalization in favour of a centralized approach, for example Alberta, which moved from 17 health regions to one.Dr. Sivertson, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Prince Albert, was also elected president of the SMA during the Representative Assembly. In a press release, she acknowledged a minimal increase in health funding from the province this year will make her tenure as president challenging. “I want to ensure that we are keeping patients at the forefront of decision-making in health care,” Dr. Sivertson said. “The SMA has been advocating for greater participation of physicians in the planning, management and governance of the health system. The SMA will continue to advocate for physician leadership and for health system redesign.“Health system redesign is probably the best way to change the health system so it’s better for patients and physicians in this province.”

New SMA president to focus on ER wait times, coming fee talks and unnecessary testing

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