Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE)

Providence Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health launched RACE in 2010 with the goal of improving the access patients with chronic disease have to health care. It is a phone line family physicians can use to contact specialists within the VCH region to get advice on the spot without having to submit a formal referral. Often family physicians and nurse practitioners can get specialist advice while their patients are still in the office and make changes to their treatment right away.

The difference 

Metrics show that RACE helps patients avoid unnecessary consults and visits to emergency. RACE should also improve patient access to specialists and reduce waitlists because family doctors can get their easy clinical questions answered on a RACE call  allowing specialist to see the patients with more complex issues.

What does it mean to be honored?

“It means a lot to the team to be recognized with this award. We started with a small group of specialists providing service through the line and now there are over 120 specialists providing advice through the RACE line. We have logged over 10,000 calls to the line and we will continue to grow the service” – Margot Wilson, RACE Project Director

The Team

Doug Cochrane Chair, BC Patient Safety & Quality Council; Margot Wilson, Director Disease Management Strategy, Providence Health Care; Delia Cooper, Patient Representative, Patient Voices Network; Garey Mazowita, Family Physician, Lead, RACE Initiative; Bethina Abrahams, Assistant Project Director, Transitions, Shared Care; David Thompson, VP Seniors Care & Clinical Support Services< providence Health Care; Moe Baloo, Patient Transitions, Providence Health Care

What’s next?

The team is working with groups across BC to expand RACE into a provincial resource.

Learn more

Learn more about the award on the BCPSQC website.

Visit the RACE website for more information www.RACEconnect.ca