The release of Strengthening Primary Care in BC – Report 2 marks an important point in British Columbia’s primary care reform. The report builds on earlier CARGA commitments and focuses specifically on Community Health Centres and other community-led models, drawing on extensive engagement with providers, communities, and people with lived experience.
For rural and remote communities, the report reflects meaningful progress in how primary care challenges are being understood and described.
What is on the “Nice” List
Team-based primary care is the right direction
British Columbia has already endorsed team-based care through the creation of Primary Care Networks. CARGA Report 2 reinforces this direction by emphasizing interdisciplinary teams, coordination across providers, and integration with community services. This matters. It signals continued movement away from siloed approaches and toward more collaborative models of care.
Attachment alone does not ensure access
The report clearly acknowledges that being attached to a provider does not necessarily mean people can access care when they need it. It recognizes the limits of current performance measures and the need to better reflect access, continuity, patient experience, and social complexity. This aligns closely with what communities experience, particularly in rural areas where travel, limited hours, and workforce instability still drive people to episodic or emergency care.
Community Health Centres play a distinct role
CARGA Report 2 affirms that Community Health Centres are uniquely positioned to address inequities by integrating primary care with social supports and by serving people who face persistent barriers to access. This recognition strengthens the case for community governance, interdisciplinary teams, and care anchored in place.
Rural and remote challenges are explicitly acknowledged
The report recognizes that rural and remote communities face compounded barriers related to distance, workforce availability, and access to higher levels of care. It raises the need for rural funding adjustments and targeted investment in edge communities as a matter of equity, not preference.
BCACHC is recognized as a provincial partner
The Ministry identifies the BC Association of Community Health Centres as a key partner in supporting quality improvement, data development, workforce supports, and community readiness. This points to a more coordinated, system-level approach rather than relying on isolated or short-term initiatives.
The Naughty List
While the report provides strong analysis and broad alignment, its value will depend on what happens next.
- Clear funding commitments and timelines are still required to turn direction into delivery.
- Stabilizing existing Community Health Centres is necessary, but some rural and remote communities currently have no stable primary care base to stabilize. Targeted expansion will be needed alongside stabilization.
- Primary Care Networks have advanced team-based care to some degree, but rural contexts often require additional flexibility in governance, workforce mix, and leadership, including community-led and non-physician-led models. PCNs do not adequately respond to community voice or rural needs.
- The Patient Medical Home must be clearly defined as a model of care, not simply a family practice or doctor’s office. Attachment should be to a stable, community-anchored care team with shared records and accountability, rather than to individual providers. This clarity is especially important in rural and remote communities, where team composition and leadership may vary but continuity of care remains essential.
Actions Needed Now
1. Move from direction to delivery
CARGA Report 2 sets the right direction. What is needed now are clear funding commitments, timelines, and accountability so communities can see when and how change will happen.
2. Anchor attachment to care teams, not individual providers
Attachment should be to a stable, community-anchored care team rather than to a single primary care provider. This supports continuity when providers change and reflects how care is delivered in rural and underserved communities.
3. Stabilize existing Community Health Centres
Existing Community Health Centres need predictable, multi-year operational funding to stabilize staffing, governance, and services, particularly in rural and remote areas.
4. Act in parallel where access gaps remain
Stabilization is essential, but some communities currently have no reliable primary care base. Targeted expansion using community-led, nurse practitioner-led, mobile, or hybrid models must proceed at the same time.
5. Enable teams to work to full scope
Team-based care must fully support nurse practitioners, nurses, and allied health providers to practice to their full scope. This is critical to improving access where physician availability is limited.
6. Adjust funding and planning for rural realities
Distance, travel time, workforce scarcity, and higher operating costs must be reflected in funding models and planning decisions. Rural adjustments are an equity requirement, not a special request.
7. Improve data so it reflects real access and continuity
Primary care data must move beyond attachment counts and visit volumes. Measures should reflect timely access, continuity with a care team, patient experience, and the complexity of care, particularly in rural and remote communities
CARGA Report 2 is an important step forward. It recognizes that attachment alone does not equal access, affirms team-based and community-led care, and acknowledges the real challenges rural and edge communities face.
The direction is encouraging. What rural communities need now are clear timelines, funding commitments, and action, especially where distance, travel, and workforce shortages continue to limit access to care.
Progress matters. Follow-through will determine whether it changes lives. See Strengthening Primary Care in BC: Building on a Shared Model for Change.
* We have been informed that the “implementation phase” of this work will commence in early 2026.
