Recently, Alberta (Canada) Health Minister Tyler Shandro tabled an amendment to proposed Bill 30 – the Health Statutes Amendment Act. The amendment would compel doctors to disclose “amounts payable” that they receive for publicly funded health services.
Bill 30 attempts to modernize Alberta’s healthcare system via new policies and amendments. Some of the policies include increasing the number of public members on Health Professional Regulatory College councils, more options for physicians when it comes to their compensation and time spent with patients, and an amendment to the COVID-19 quarantine requirements that would require all travelers to the province quarantine for 14 days after arrival.
If passed, the tabled Amendment would create an Alberta-practitioner “Sunshine list,” with provider names and pay posted online for the public to see. British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland all already disclose physician compensation, but the Alberta bill would go further, according to the Press Secretary to the Minister of Health of Alberta, Steve Buick.
Buick said, “There is little transparency around payments to physicians, so we’re going to give more information than any other province, including gross payments as well as number of days worked and numbers of patients and total visits, to give some basis for comparison of income relative to workload.”
Controversy
For his part, Buick alluded to the reason behind the move, saying, “We want Albertans to have the facts on health care spending, including the $5.4 billion a year we spend on physician services — that’s one-quarter of the health care budget and 10 per cent of the budget of the entire Government of Alberta.”
The Alberta Medical Association (AMA), however, may have indicated a different reason behind the proposal. According to a recent survey published by the AMA, almost half of Alberta doctors are planning to leave the province based on changes in payment. Shandro, vehemently denied any imminent physician exodus and told the AMA to “stop playing games.”
Ubaka Ogbogu, a (now former) member of the Health Quality Council of Alberta, resigned from his position as a result of this bill. He believes that this legislation would eliminate the Council’s role in the system. He believes that provisions in the bill would “decimate” the organization’s independence.
Bill 30
If passed, Bill 30 would also allow doctors to move away from the fee-for-service model (billing for each patient visit) and instead sign contracts and be paid salaries. It would also aim to cut approval times for private surgical facilities, allow the Health Ministry to contract directly with doctors, and allow private companies to take over the administrative functions of physician clinics.