Guest Column: Government isn’t listening to physicians

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on March 9, 2020.

Over the past weekend I was somewhat confused when colleagues and patients began complimenting me on the advocacy opinion piece I had written in the newspaper. It took me a little sleuthing to realize someone had posted on social media an editorial I had written in 2014, and it had gone somewhat viral being rapidly shared over the weekend.

Maybe some who shared the article had not noticed the date and mistakenly thought it was a newly penned warning. I’m sure others likely shared it because they thought the warning of an overburdened system, and an urging of Albertans to exert their political influence, was once again timely given recent unilateral and draconian changes imposed by Alberta’s government upon the medical profession.

Minister Shandro and the UCP government have recently torn up the long-standing contract with Alberta physicians, and have subsequently made devastating changes to how physicians are compensated for providing medical care. The changes made are a frontal assault on primary and preventive care, will place marginalized patient populations at significant risk, and will have wide-spread negative consequences on the health of Albertans with complex medical care needs.

These changes were made unilaterally, in a ridiculously rushed fashion, and without any professional consultation from physicians with firsthand knowledge of the impact they might have. In fact, when the AMA attempted to provide feedback as to how the changes would negatively affect access to primary care, the government simply refused to listen. When physicians offered to compromise with the government and try to find necessary budget savings elsewhere, the Ministry of Health abruptly ended negotiations and implemented their ill-conceived budgetary cuts.

But why would these changes stimulate the viral sharing of a 2014 advocacy piece? Could it be that people are again worried about a government blindly acting without listening to the professionals on the front lines providing the care? Are people worried about a government making budgetary decisions that will assuredly cost taxpayers more in the long run? Are there reminders of a government electing to pay for a pound of cure down the road over an ounce of prevention up front?

Thankfully in the past, previous governments heeded the warnings and worked with the medical profession to try to improve the system and pull it back from possible collapse. Major gains were made in many areas, and patient care was improved in a collaborative fashion. Regrettably, the current government is no longer willing to work collaboratively with physicians. This government not only refuses to negotiate, it has decided to implement unilateral changes that will wipe out many important system gains that have been hard won over the last ten years or more.

The government is not listening to physicians, but maybe it will still listen to Albertans. As I urged in my 2014 letter, I will beg your indulgence and repeat the warning again here: the government serves at the will of Albertans. Even though the government refuses to listen to the warnings of physicians, surely it cannot be so bold as to refuse to listen to the voters.

If you care about a robust publicly funded health-care system, one that will meet your complex health care needs in a timely fashion, then I will again urge you to get politically involved. Take a moment and contact the premier, the minister of health, and your local MLA. Demand accountability. Ask each of them to explain how refusing to work with the medical profession is going to improve your health care system.

This government is not working with physicians. Will it still work with and for you?

Dr. Paul Parks is an emergency physician at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and president, Section of Emergency Medicine of the Alberta Medical Association.

11
-10