The RheumOpportunities committee (formerly Manpower) has been busy on several fronts. We were active participants (thanks to Drs. Kyle Walker and Hafsah Al-Azem) at the Ontario Medical Student weekend in Ottawa in November which was a big success. Numerous first year medical students heard about Rheumatology and what a great career choice it is. We plan to attend this function again in 2020.
We now have a locum program for those looking for short or longer term work and also for those looking for someone to fill in for them when a practicing rheumatologist would like to step away from their practice for a short or long time. This is available on our website at RheumCareers
We also continue to offer community electives for rheumatology residents during their training. This is Royal College approved with financial assistance for travel available. For information can be found here
We are also creating a subcommittee on Northern rheumatology and hope that any interested parties will contact admin@ontariorheum.ca
Third Party Payers
The third party payer committee has continued to lobby for panCanadian criteria for biologics across all payers. We have met with representatives from the panCanadian Pharmaceutical Alliance and our advocacy continues.
We recently met with the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) as well as representatives from many of Canada’s insurance companies to start work on standardized renewal criteria and duration of renewals for biologics and are also working on the issue of request for EAP rejection letters from insurers.
If you have any insurance company issues, do not hesitate to contact us at admin@ontariorheum.ca
