gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
A local political science instructor says the provincial government’s move to impose a new fee structure on doctors has everything to do with the budget to be presented on Thursday.
“Absolutely,” said Medicine Hat College’s Jim Groom. “They want to be able to say … ‘We told you we were going to balance the budget in four years.'”
Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced last week that Alberta was terminating its agreement with doctors and its new fee structure will commence April 1. This will prevent an additional $2 billion being added to the physicians’ budget over the next three years.
The United Conservative government has said Alberta doctors, on average, make more than physicians in other provinces, receiving almost $390,000 in gross clinical earnings in 2018/19, which is $90,000 more than Ontario doctors.
The Alberta Medical Association commissioned its own study that found Alberta doctors get $386,000 a year on average, which is more than the national average of $346,000, but reflects the reality that wages across Alberta’s job spectrum are higher.
The government had been in talks with the AMA since November. Groom says that is not a long period of time when it comes to negotiating. For talks to have broken off about 10 days ago and within a few days to have a settlement imposed, was a shock.
“It’s quite unusual to do it so arbitrarily. It seems a little disingenuous. They’re in the middle of negotiations and all of a sudden unilaterally say, ‘we’re done,'” said Groom. “I don’t even remember the (Ralph) Klein government doing this.”
There is the impression, said Groom, that there was an agenda all along and the negotiations were only going to continue as long as doctors were amenable.
The AMA’s president, Dr. Christine Molnar, said the organization is preparing for a court fight.
“Absolutely we are taking legal action,” Molnar. “I see this as a fundamental violation of our right for representation.”
She said that denying doctors binding arbitration is violating their rights under the Canada Health Act and the charter.
Molnar said different legal firms are exploring a possible challenge, but it may be difficult. While the AMA bargains for doctors, it is not a union.
Groom says every Albertan knows the impact of the cuts imposed on doctors will soon affect patients as they discover changes at their doctor’s office. He believes the government is taking a short-term approach and ignoring the long-term ramifications.
Molnar said she is hearing from family practitioners who are crunching the numbers and determining the impact of fee reductions for extra-long visits by complex-needs patients. Some physicians have stated they will now only allow patients to discuss one concern per visit.
Groom says there is the possibility of doctors leaving and Alberta experiencing a shortage of family physicians once more. He says the government is probably banking on winning the next election on a platform of a balanced budget. They are banking on not having to address a shortage of doctors until after that.
The province cancelled the master agreement with doctors using powers it granted itself in legislation passed last fall.
— with files from The Canadian Press
