Alberta MDs eye fall vote on contentious pay issue
EDMONTON The organization representing Alberta’s 10,000-plus doctors says it hopes to have its members vote this fall on a plan to achieve income fairness, which could potentially see lower-paid physicians receive additional compensation at the expense of higherpaid specialists.
A meeting of Alberta Medical Association leaders on the weekend decided to carry on with the contentious “income equity” initiative, but declined to commit to specific dates to begin implementation.
AMA president Dr. Neil Cooper said delegates decided it was best to wait until more information was collected — including studies on doctors’ overhead costs and hours of work — before scheduling a ratification vote for members.
Those studies are expected to be complete by the fall, which should give family physicians, radiologists, neurologists and other medical groups enough data to determine how the initiative might affect their pay.
“In trying to push ahead and do things too quickly, it will result in errors and that’s the not the right way to do this,” Cooper said Monday.
The initiative stems from feelings that certain specialty groups earn a disproportionate share of $5.2 billion in provincial funding, while family doctors and others remain undervalued for the important role they play.
The government has said there is little new money to pay doctors, meaning any increase for certain groups will have to come from rebalancing existing funds.
The AMA decided last year to explore a way of doing just that, using a model that collects data on doctors’ billings, overhead costs and other variables to determine if some medical groups are not receiving a fair share of funding.
High-earning specialists such as ophthalmologists and dermatologists
have taken the step of hiring lawyers, who recently submitted a legal opinion insisting the AMA doesn’t have the authority to proceed with income equity.
Such groups have suggested a significant loss of revenue could make it difficult to cover their extensivecosts.
Some lower-income physicians have countered that they don’t expect to be paid like specialists, but they feel the income disparity has grown too great.
The AMA’s decision on the weekend means any income rebalancing couldn’t happen until the fall of 2019 at the earliest. That’s after the next provincial election, which means a new government may be in power that may not support the initiative.
Dr. Darryl LaBuick, who heads the section of general practice within the AMA, said he believes it was a “reasonable” decision to delay a vote until more information is available.
“Is this going to turn into some brouhaha? I’m not expecting that or wanting that,” he said. “We want to really make sure we do a good job of this, while also accepting that it won’t be perfect.”