The Alberta government wishes to reduce more than $ 400 million in costs it pays to doctors, according to a confidential note obtained by the Canadian press.
The memo of February 18, sent by Alberta medical association The head of Dr. Shelley Duggan to member doctors, said that the Alberta Ministry of Health requires discounts to more than 800 doctors billing codes to save $ 400 million due to budgetary pressures.
These codes indicate the amount of money paid for specific procedures, sometimes depending on the time a doctor spends with a patient.
“What has become clear in recent months is that Alberta Health seeks to face his budgetary gaps thanks to the budget of doctors’ services,” writes Duggan.
“Although we hope that Alberta Health will reconsider his current approach, we wanted to advise members that it would be very likely that the (program) will proceed to arbitration.”
Duggan said that government moves an agreement to jointly examine billing changes because the province has not left enough time for an appropriate assessment before a deadline of March 31.
If the two parties cannot reach an agreement by then, the following steps would be mediation followed by binding arbitration, if necessary, later in the spring.
The association, known as AMA, refused to speak to the Mémo de Duggan, invoking the requirements of confidentiality of its 2022 master agreement with the province.
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The office of the Minister of Health, Adriana Lagrange, in a statement, also refused to discuss details, but said they were attached to the agreed joint examination process.
He also noted that overall public spending for doctors have increased, increasing by $ 1 billion since 2022-2010.
“This year, the government is on the right track to spend much more than the $ 6.7 billion that has been budgeted by doctors’ remuneration for around 12,000 doctors,” said.
Sarah Hoffman, Criticism of the health of the NPD of the Alberta said that the billing cuts proposed are another step in a larger government plan aimed at undergoing public health care and leading more patients to private services.
“I hear many doctors (about) of growing mistrust, growing anxiety and growing stress on the future of their practice and what will be the future of public health care,” said Hoffman.
“They know that the government focuses on the undercoves and all public services, and they do not feel respected in this process.”
The dispute takes place in a context of red ink, controversy and structural upheavals in health care.
Prime Minister Danielle Smith’s government has introduced a budget for the next year, which provides a deficit of $ 5.2 billion, citing uncertainty over American prices and the drop in oil revenues.
The AMA said that the short-circuit budget on the remuneration and development of doctors of around $ 600 million.
“We do not know how the government plans to balance the probable expenses of 2025-2026 for the remuneration and development of doctors in relation to an insufficient budget,” said the association after the budget on February 27.
The AMA said that it would be inappropriate for the government to finance the deficit by making changes to the billing codes.
The health system is currently being a fundamental restructuring of the way it is organized.
It is also face a lawsuitA scandalAnd A GRC survey on allegations of darling contractsFavoritism and high -level political arms torsion on health supply agreements of several million dollars.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
(Tagstotranslate) Alberta Health
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