Latest news with #MedicalSociety
CBC
15 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
McLane defends Health P.E.I. guidelines after doctors threaten to take legal action
The province's health minister says he's confident government, Health P.E.I. and the society that represents family doctors on the Island can reach a compromise in a dispute over physician workloads. Last week, the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island announced that it's planning legal action against Health P.E.I. over an update to targets for family physicians. The society said the new targets for how many patients each doctor needs to accept are not what it agreed to when it signed a new physician services agreement with the province last year. On Monday, though, Health Minister Mark McLane told CBC News there must be checks in place so that the government can evaluate how the new agreement is working. "The first year of the [physician services agreement], there's no punitive measures in there. It's just there for information purposes only," McLane told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin. "I think we have a responsibility to measure our system. Obviously a system that you don't measure, you can't respond to challenges and you may identify opportunities." 'Change is difficult' Last August, the government and the medical society together announced the new physician services agreement, which saw P.E.I. become the first province in Canada to recognize family medicine as a specialty. The agreement also contained a plan to boost physician pay by 35 per cent over the next five years. But then last month, Health P.E.I. introduced a new operational guide that included what it called key performance indicators, or KPIs. They include a requirement that each family doctor see 24 patients a day, based on an average appointment being 15 minutes long. The guide also says each full-time family doctor's practice should have a minimum of 1,600 patients, with penalties imposed if the minimum isn't met. The society contends that the new targets will drive family physicians out of the province, and said it has been "stonewalled" when it comes to consultation with the government. WATCH | Society representing P.E.I. doctors is suing Health P.E.I. over new targets for family physicians: Society representing P.E.I. doctors is suing Health P.E.I. over new targets for family physicians 3 days ago Duration 2:40 Health P.E.I. is planning to change how family physicians are expected to work in the province. The Medical Society of P.E.I. says that was not part of negotiations that led up to a new Physician Services Agreement, so it has initiated legal action, saying some doctors will leave the province over this. CBC's Stacey Janzer reports. On Monday, McLane said the society and Health P.E.I. have six weeks in which to provide feedback on the new guidelines and the performance indicators. He said the province needs to at least start with a framework to measure the success of the physician services agreement, given there's nothing comparable to it anywhere else in the country. "I'm pretty confident that they'll work through this. It's change management. It's hard; I understand that change is difficult," the health minister said. "Without a clear roadmap… we're going to have to work with our physicians to get there." WATCH | A conversation with the new leader of P.E.I.'s Green Party: A conversation with the new leader of P.E.I.'s Green Party 5 hours ago Duration 5:49 Last weekend, Borden-Kinkora MLA Matt MacFarlane was elected as the new leader of the P.E.I. Greens. CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin sat down with MacFarlane to discuss his priorities for taking the party into the future. The new leader of P.E.I.'s Green Party is not so sure that the province is willing to listen to its family doctors, though. In a news release Monday, Matt MacFarlane used the words "disrespectful and damaging" to describe how Health P.E.I. unilaterally rolled out the new measures without consulting physicians. The key performance indicators that they're downloading on these doctors are really unachievable and not appropriate. — Matt MacFarlane, P.E.I. Green Party leader "The key performance indicators that they're downloading on these doctors are really unachievable and not appropriate for what we need for delivering health care in this province, and doctors are rightfully upset by the top-down approach that this government has taken," MacFarlane said in an interview with Martin later in the day. "I'm glad to see the physician community pushing back on this, because primary care is the fundamental access to care that Islanders don't have right now… and this is not going to make it any better, the way that doctors are being treated on this particular file."
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Medical Society of P.E.I. plans legal action over alleged breach of contract
The Medical Society of Prince Edward Island plans legal action against Health P.E.I. over an update to targets for family physicians. The society says the new targets are going to drive family physicians out of the province, and said it has been "stonewalled" when it comes to consultation with the government. Health P.E.I.'s new operational guide includes key performance indicators, or KPIs, that include a requirement that each family doctor will see 24 patients a day, based on an average appointment being 15 minutes long. It also says each full-time family doctor should have a minimum of 1,600 patients on the books. Penalties can be imposed if the minimum isn't met. "Early feedback suggests these KPIs risk making family practice unsustainable, will drive physicians out of P.E.I., and deter new physicians from practicing in P.E.I.," the medical society said in a June 3 letter to its members. "MSPEI will respond to Health PEI with legal action." Dr. Krista Cassell, the society's president, said that the targets were not discussed with doctors. She said they had been feeling good about a new contract signed just last year. "This was transformational," she said. 'It was a very competitive contract. It really was the best in the country, and we were incredibly excited for this." But Cassell said it became much harder earlier this year to have productive conversations with Health P.E.I. and the Department of Health and Wellness. Then the society learned about the new guide. CBC asked for an interview with provincial officials. It received a statement from Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser. "We are working with the Medical Society of PEI and the Government of Prince Edward Island to implement the physician services agreement in a way that supports physicians and strengthens our health-care system," said Fraser. "We are committed to doing that process within the terms of the agreement." The statement also said the province "made an historic investment of $188 million in the new physician services agreement, which puts P.E.I. longitudinal family physicians amongst the top earners in the country, with a 36 per cent increase." It also cited the ability for doctors to diversify their practice, a reduction in administrative work, and "unprecedented vacation, maternity and paternity benefits." Cassell said the agreement held a lot of potential for helping a strained health-care system. "We were excited for the potential of keeping some of our physicians that … we've been losing over the last number of years. And we were excited about the potential of recruiting more." Cassell said that collaboration is key. She said that over the past decade, members of the medical society have been "good problem solvers" with the government and Health P.E.I. But in recent weeks, Cassell said, "what we found was that not only is our input not being sought or not followed, but in fact it's been quite overtly ignored." 'Critical turning point' For Green Party MLA Matt MacFarlane, this development marks a "critical turning point" in the province's relationship with family doctors. "I really don't know why government is taking this approach.... It's been completely top-down without consultation with the physician community and it imposes some pretty serious items that the doctors are really going to struggle with," MacFarlane said.
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Society representing P.E.I. doctors is suing Health P.E.I. over new targets for family physicians
Health P.E.I. is planning to change how family physicians are expected to work in the province. The Medical Society of P.E.I. says that was not part of negotiations that led up to a new Physician Services Agreement, so it has initiated legal action, saying some doctors will leave the province over this. CBC's Stacey Janzer reports.
