Prince George’s Dr. Bill Clifford has won an award for leadership from the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council.
Dr. Clifford is a retired Chief Medical Information Officer whose work is still impacting heath care across the province.
He moved to Prince George in 1989, and in 1990 launched an electronic medical record system called the Medical Office Information System, a user-friendly technology that physicians across B.C. use to improve patient care.
He’s been described by colleagues as a visionary leader, innovator, mentor, genius and one half physician, one half IT techie.
It’s for this leadership that Bill was awarded the Order of BC in 2014.
“He comes with a very practical approach, knowing that to make improvements you need to measure,” says Dr. Bruce Hobson, retired family practitioner and Medical Director for Program Standards at UBC, Continuing Professional Development.
“He can leverage technology and data to help inform what’s going on in health, identify gaps, and then support the measurement of any change to see if the change results in improvement.”
Now retired as Chief Medical Information Officer for Northern Health (NH), he works as a primary care and informatics consultant, focusing on physician remuneration, patient-centred medical homes, primary care networks and information sharing for quality improvement and research.
The BC Quality Awards, presented by the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, recognizes the people and projects that have improved the quality of care in British Columbia.
Winners are awarded a $2,500 sponsorship to help support and disseminate learning from their projects or to support ongoing learning and development.
“This year’s winners and runners up are inspirational for the work they do every day to make the lives of people living in British Columbia better,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health.
“It’s a pleasure to see the spotlight shine on the people who deserve it. On behalf of the Province, I congratulate all the winners and runners up, and I thank them for their dedication and passion for quality health care.”
