Latest news with #OntarioMedicalAssociation
CBC
6 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Ontario doctors are close to a new compensation deal. Here's what it includes
The Ontario Medical Association is hoping to strike a new deal with the province that would change the way family physicians are compensated. CBC's Dale Manucdoc has more on what the proposed deal includes.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Ontario's family doctors could soon have a new compensation system. Here is how it will work
Ontario family doctors could soon be subject to a new compensation system as part of the province's efforts to incentivize physicians to work as general practitioners. Ontario Medical Association CEO Kimberly Moran tells CTV News that negotiations on the new system are ongoing but that she believes a deal can be reached within months. She said that while the matter is still under an arbitration board's review an agreement has already been reached with the Ontario government on 'most of the elements.' The focus of the new system would be to pay doctors for the time they spend doing administration, as well as the time they spend providing medical care, Moran says. Right now, family doctors are not compensated for the time they spend working on administration or with specialists on behalf of their patients. Instead, doctors operate under both a fee-for-service model, in which they are reimbursed under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) for every service they provide a patient and an enrollment system, in which they are paid a set amount per patient, regardless of how many times they see them. 'What this incentivized compensation model does is that it recognizes the work that's done by doctors that they have talked about as very challenging and that is a lot of critical administration,' Moran said of the new proposed model. 'It directly compensates that for them, so for example if you need referral to a specialization or if the family doctor needs to talk to your specialist about something, like none of that time is compensated. But now its going to be, so that's great.' Ontario has long had a shortage of family doctors. The provincial government has pledged to make sure that every Ontarian has a family doctor by 2029 and Moran said she is hopeful the new system will convince more physicians to enter family medicine. The OMA represents 31,500 practicing physicians in Ontario. 'The hope is that it will attract new physicians to the field, keep those who are practicing now and entice other doctors who have moved away from that kind of medicine back to practice medicine there,' she said. Ontario is short on doctors of all sorts but Moran emphasized the importance of family doctors right now. Right now, 2.5 million Ontarians are without a family doctor. 'What we wanted to do with this model was incentivize family doctors, those who have chosen family medicine,' she said. 'To have improved compensation is one of the ways we recruit and retain family doctors. It is going to be important over the next decade to make sure we have enough doctors through all of our specialties. But for this time, right now, where attachment to a family doctor is so critical, we wanted to focus here.' Moran said that under the existing payment system doctors were not compensated for the total time they spent with a patient who may come in 'with four, five, six different things to do.' She said that the new system 'means that if the doctor has to spend 45 minutes with a person who has lots of complexity, its going to be compensated properly.' Minister of Health and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones was asked about the ongoing negotiations during an unrelated press conference on Wednesday but declined to comment, only offering that there were 'very positive movements' and that progress was being made. 'So, as we expand primary care clinicians, opportunities in communities, we want to make sure that those physicians, those clinicians, those nurse practitioners are well supported and we're doing that work with the OMA. I can tell you to date it has been very positive,' she said.
CTV News
31-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Northern communities compete to recruit temporary doctors
Rural and northern Ontario hospitals are competing to recruit locums -- doctors who fill roles on a temporary basis to address staffing shortages and to prevent emergency department closures. (File) Rural and northern Ontario hospitals are competing to recruit locums -- doctors who fill roles on a temporary basis to address staffing shortages and to prevent emergency department closures. In many cases, hefty financial incentives are involved and that has triggered concerns about equitable access to health care. Some doctors and experts say it leaves smaller communities and hospitals vulnerable because they may not have the financial resources needed to entice physicians. Health-care crisis Dannica Switzer, a locum in northern Ontario, says that as a travelling doctor, she is acutely aware of the health-care crisis in underserved communities. She says demand for locum work is high, but the problem is that most doctors cannot help because they are already booked elsewhere. Experts say generous pay, flexible scheduling and less administrative work that comes with being a locum may impede some hospitals' recruitment and retention of full-time doctors. But Ontario Medical Association president Zainab Abdurrahman disagrees, saying the doctor shortage is so acute that locums have become an essential part of the system. The Health Ministry says its Rural Emergency Medicine Coverage Investment Fund, which replaced the Temporary Locum Program in April, is helping hospitals improve access to emergency care throughout the year. The ministry also points to the province's investments aimed at connecting every Ontarian with a primary care provider by 2029, and efforts to add hundreds of seats in medical schools.
Hamilton Spectator
14-07-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
Not feeling well? Read this before you Google your symptoms
Don't diagnose yourself. That is the message from Ontario's doctors who are raising awareness that Google doesn't have a medical degree, miracle cures can't be found on TikTok and artificial intelligence (AI) often provides as much misinformation as fact. Alarmed by the rise in do-it-yourself (DIY) medicine , the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is warning that no matter how real it looks, quizzes can't diagnose illness, influencers don't have quick-and-easy secrets to good health and real harm can come from misdiagnosis, delayed treatment and using medication prescribed to someone else. 'When patients take health into their own hands and they actually implement some of these do-it-yourself treatments or remedies, unfortunately there are often consequences,' OMA president Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman said at a media briefing July 9. 'They can cause unnecessary harms, prolong symptoms or prolong them from actually getting the care they need.' It can be tempting to give in to posts and advertisements that appear to have immediate, accessible answers and are specifically targeted to your social media feeds based on your trends. 'At least one patient out of three will bring up some form of self-diagnosis or self-management,' North Bay psychiatrist Dr. Valerie Primeau said during the briefing. 'People are … looking for quick answers, and the internet is willing to try to provide those answers.' Doctors understand why patients increasingly want to take matters into their own hands at a time when an estimated 2.5 million Ontarians don't have a family physician and specialists can be hard to access. Many people don't have time to seek out medical care because they are working or caring for family members. Some don't trust the medical system or fear interacting with health-care providers. 'It's just so easy to get online and try and get information,' London radiation oncologist Dr. David D'Souza said at the briefing. 'When you're looking for hope, I think some of the things that … appeal to people are things that are all natural, treatments with very few or no unpleasant side effects, or they offer miraculous outcomes.' Doctors say they are now seeing medical DIY from tweens to seniors over age 80. But D'Souza has seen firsthand the danger posed by misinformation and DIY medicine, including delayed care, patients choosing treatment with no evidence behind it or even being convinced to turn away from proven medicine altogether. 'I had a young woman diagnosed with cervix cancer, and she was not ready to accept conventional treatment and decided she was going to pursue other remedies that she had heard about,' D'Souza said. 'She came back two years later, unfortunately, with her disease having progressed and spread and in a lot of pain. Unfortunately, our ability to control her cancer and give her a long-term good outcome was severely compromised.' Misdiagnosis is another major concern of turning to the internet for answers about what is causing symptoms, resulting in unnecessary treatments, undue stress or the real problem going undiagnosed. 'Some of the things that my colleagues and I have seen more in recent years is patients coming to us and saying … 'I saw a video on TikTok and it sounds like I have all the criteria, that must mean that I have this disorder,' Primeau said. 'If you think you have an illness, obviously that will increase anxiety … and you may not actually suffer from an illness.' Self-diagnosis has become a particular problem for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with quizzes popping up online — many are free, but some require payment — that purport to be accurate. 'We have inattention in general as a society right now, so it's just something that resonates a lot with us,' Primeau said. 'If I ask … 'Have you ever been distracted or had trouble with organization or answering all your emails?' I think most people are going to say, 'Yes,' and this is why I think there is a rising trend to self-diagnose.' But confirming ADHD as an adult requires a deep dive into the past, Primeau said. 'ADHD is a neurodevelopmental illness, and I think people forget that,' Primeau said. 'You technically have to have it in childhood before a certain age, and that is not portrayed in social media.' Some patients have even admitted to trying a friend or family member's medication because they believed they had the same illness. 'It's led to side effects,' Primeau said. 'That can be dangerous.' As the public gets more comfortable with using AI, doctors fear medical DIY will become more common, which is one of the reasons the OMA is raising the issue. 'I have patients now that talk to ChatGPT to get advice and to have a conversation,' Primeau said. 'If we don't address it now and help people navigate this, they will struggle.' The problem with turning to AI is that it provides 'partial truths and partial misinformation,' Toronto endocrinologist Dr. Alyse Goldberg said at the briefing. Online resources also aren't obligated to keep medical information confidential and may not safeguard patient privacy. When looking for medical information online, doctors recommend going to the websites of major hospital networks like Hamilton Health Sciences, St. Joseph's Healthcare or the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. They also suggest turning to trusted organizations and agencies like the Canadian Cancer Society, Cancer Care Ontario, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Public Health Ontario or the OMA itself. 'It's probably difficult for members of the public to distinguish what would be reputable versus not,' Primeau said. 'I would always recommend seeking help from your family physician or a professional.' Doctors say to watch out for claims of cures never seen before or treatments kept hidden from the public. Be wary of overgeneralized videos and quizzes. Remember anecdotes are not the same as clinical trials, and what works for one patient may not be the right fit for another. 'I think in general, it's really hard in the sea of information to tell the difference,' Goldberg said. 'I always recommend (to) bring what you found to your primary care provider or a professional if you're able to, to make sure that you can tell what is appropriate and what isn't.' Doctors say they are now seeing medical DIY from tweens to seniors over age 80. 'We want to ensure that we are talking about this, we are addressing this because it is an important issue,' Abdurrahman said. 'We're going to have more and more people seeing this because social media is so pervasive in our day to day lives.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. 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Hamilton Spectator
10-07-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
This doctor says one-third of her patients self-diagnose using online research. She and others are warning of the risks
For every three patients who come to her psychiatry clinic in North Bay, Ont., Valérie Primeau estimates at least one will say they have researched online and determined they have a mental disorder. The psychiatrist said it's particularly common with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 'I haven't been diagnosed yet,' Primeau recalled patients telling her, 'but I know I have it.' Interactions like these are increasingly playing out in doctor offices across the province as more people use the internet — especially social media — for medical advice, Primeau and other medical professionals said Wednesday at a virtual media briefing by the Ontario Medical Association (OMA). The briefing was aimed at highlighting the risks associated with do-it-yourself medicine — warning any form of self-diagnosis comes with risks. According to a survey from the Canadian Medical Association from January, 62 per cent of Canadians reported seeing health information online before later learning it was misleading or false. That same survey found that 23 per cent of people said they'd experienced negative health reactions after following misleading information found online. 'Doctors recognize the complex circumstances that make do-it-yourself treatments appealing,' said Zainab Abdurrahman, OMA president and a clinical immunologist, during Wednesday's briefing. These reasons for seeking answers online could stem from a lack of trust between a would-be patient and medical professionals or not having access to a family doctor, Abdurrahman and other medical professionals at the briefing explained. 'But we assure patients that experts are here to help,' Abdurrahman said. Most of the misleading health information these days comes from social media, experts at the briefing said. Alyse Goldberg, an endocrinologist in Toronto, said she's seen some posts related to endocrine disorders pop up on her social media feeds after talking with her patients, highlighting how prevalent these posts can be. 'I'm not necessarily even searching for it,' she said. Experts who spoke at the briefing said that people's use of the internet to learn more about what others might be experiencing can be somewhat helpful, but encouraged those who do to always bring up their concerns with a medical professional. They stressed that medical professionals avoid judging their patients whenever social media posts come up in appointments. 'The problem which I try to avoid is the perception that we somehow know more or that there is an air of superiority,' said David D'Souza, a professor and radiation oncologist at Western University. For those who don't have a family doctor, people can also find reliable information online from health associations or by visiting a walk-in clinic. 'There are lots of avenues to still reach doctors to talk about this, even if you don't have a regular doctor,' Abdurrahman said.
