It’s a long time coming. Changes, to how Alberta pays family doctors.
The move is also being celebrated by specialists, outside of the deal. They are hoping this will bring better patient outcomes, and relieve pressure on the whole system.
“This is really going to be a game changer for family medicine,” said Dr. Sarah Bates, the president of the Alberta Medical Association’s Section of Family Medicine.
RELATED: Alberta introduces new pay model for family doctors
A sigh of relief for Dr. Bates, who believes the new payment plan announced Thursday, which will be moving away from only paying the doctor for the time spent with patients, to a model that will see them paid for paperwork, referrals as well as building rent and staff could help address the shortage of family doctors, with an estimated 25 to 30 per cent compensation raise
“Practices have been closing, and people have been choosing different areas of clinical work because community family medicine just wasn’t all that viable,” said Dr. Bates.
The deal starts in April, but first needs 500 family doctors to sign on.
It also encourages physicians to grow their practice, only eligible to those with more than 500 patients, hoping to ease the family doctor shortage plaguing the province.
“It’s a team approach, you don’t just have a specialist dealing with diabetes, you have a specialist, patient, and family physicians,” explained Dr. Jeff Winterstein, general internal medicine specialising in diabetes.
This diabetes specialist has seen an increase in patients coming to him with health concerns outside his specialty, or ending up in ER, because they don’t have a family doctor.
Hoping the new year will bring better patient outcomes with more primary care and Alberta expanding coverage of continuous glucose monitoring for adults with type one diabetes, who need multiple insulin injections daily.
“I think our health system is often short-sighted, and when you are able to cover something that is better for you or can effectuate change in a more proficient manner, you are prohibiting side effects or hospital stays, or hospital admissions,” said Dr. Winterstein.
The glucose monitors are now funded for over 23,000 Albertans, through a federal funding partnership.
As the long-awaited family doctor deal, the AMA says there are still questions to be worked out for what happens to rural doctors with less than 500 patients. But after long, and sometimes tumultuous negotiations.
“This is a great model for family medicine, it starts to respect a lot of the work that we were doing before,” said Dr. Bates.