I believe our government and the province’s doctors have the same objective: that Ontario remains the best province for physicians to practice in, as well as the best place for patients to receive care.
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The 500 doctors represent just two per cent of all practitioners but cost $677 million a year, or almost 10 per cent of Ontario’s Fee-For-Service budget. “In order to move forward with the process of meaningful negotiations, rather than negotiate in public and mischaracterize the facts, Ontario’s doctors ask that Hoskins clarify his position directly with the OMA”.
Hoskins told reporters then that more than 500 doctors had billed OHIP $1 million a year ago, while one physician alone billed more than $6 million.
The top-billing doctor is an ophthalmologist – one of three specialties that take in the most cash, with 85 of the eye specialists billing more than $1 million past year, Hoskins said.
Hoskins said the budget for paying doctors was increased by $140 million this year and that the average physician in the province bills $368,000, out of which they must pay their expenses. I continue to urge the OMA to come back to the table and help us manage the system in a way that benefits both physicians and patients in a fair and sustainable way.
On Tuesday, Hoskins said he was merely trying to ensure that residents and physicians “have an understanding of some of the challenges before us and some of the opportunities for us, as well, to find savings and reach an agreement”. The top diagnostic radiologist billed more than $5.1 million and the top anaesthesiologist billed more than $3.8 million. As well, the organization says that billings are not the same as earnings because they do not reflect how much doctors have to pay in overhead costs. According to a media release, supporters are being bused in from each corner of the province, from Ottawa and Kingston to Midland and Cambridge, with hundreds planning to stand shoulder to shoulder with their doctors. He calls it a “distraction tactic” and says the government should be working with the OMA instead of making cuts that hurt patient care.
The OMA for its part argues doctors are “ready and willing” to negotiate whenever the province is ready to sit down, but are unwilling to take any cuts.
That makes them “the best paid doctors in Canada”, said Hoskins, who is a physician. One ophthalmologist billed $6.6 million.
Hoskins wants the negotiations to resume within 10 days, and repeated his offer to consider the OMA’s request for binding arbitration to resolve the fee dispute.
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In 2015-16, Ontario set aside over $11 billion for physician services.
