Medical groups welcome possible change to doctor pay
Posted Feb 9, 2016 3:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Although Alberta doctors are among some of the highest-paid in the country, some provincial health groups are welcoming the idea from the health minister on how they’re paid.
On Monday in Edmonton, Sarah Hoffman told a group of health experts that the current fee-for-service system is outdated, costs too much, and the province and physicians should look at alternative forms of payment.
It’s a potential move groups like Friends of Medicare and the Alberta Medical Associated are open to.
“We know physician compensation is a large and growing cost driver for health care, so we’re happy to see alternatives,” Trevor Zimmerman with Friends of Medicare said. “We know there are concerns that a fee-for-service model drives volume, as opposed to quality.”
The current model pays out doctors based on what procedures they perform, which opponents say puts less focus on spending time with patients and giving incentives for physicians to become family practitioners.
“We hope that any option that they are considering are going to put patient care as the priority and at the same time looking to attract more family physicians as well that we know are needed here in Alberta,” Zimmerman said.
Other provinces have already changed their policies, including giving doctors a certain amount of funding to serve a number of patients and Alberta Medical Association President Dr. Carl Norh, also likes the idea of a possible change.
“We are interested in this,” he said, adding the AMA has already been working on different funding models for family physicians in primary care and those working in universities. “What we’re after really is that we can make sure that we can find new ways of aligning physician compensation with the way they actually take care of patients.”
A 2012 agreement between the province and doctors is set to run out in 2018, but Nohr said they don’t have to wait that long to make changes.
“We’re not talking with the government about breaking that contract, but we are discussing with government ways of repurposing funds, alternative ways of physician compensation that we can work out within the terms of the contract to achieve these ends,” Nohr said.
