N.B. joins growing list of provinces shining light on doctor billing

Minister releases MDs names and amount they billed saying ‘transparency’ crucial

New Brunswick has made public how much it pays each of its doctors.

The province released the names of physicians with the amounts each received in payments for providing medically insured services last year.

In doing so, it has joined a growing list of jurisdictions that is turning to public disclosure of such data.

“Transparency and accountability are of the utmost importance for your government,” Health Minister Victor Boudreau said in a written statement, released Monday.

“Following recommendations from the auditor general, and necessary legislative amendments, we are proud to follow through on our commitment to publish payments made to medical practitioners who work in the province,” he said.

In Ontario, the Toronto Star has been trying for more than three years to get physician-identified billings released.

In response to a Freedom-of-Information request in 2014, the Ontario Health Ministry disclosed the specialties and OHIP payments for most doctors. But the ministry withheld names, explaining their release would be an unjustified invasion of privacy.

The Star successfully appealed that decision to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. But then three groups of doctors — including the Ontario Medical Association — sought a judicial review of the privacy commissioner’s order. That review was heard in Division Court last week. A three-judge panel reserved its decision.

British Columbia has been releasing such information annually since 1971 and Manitoba since 1996. The United States began releasing physician-identified Medicare payment data in 2014.

Newfoundland’s privacy commissioner last year ordered the release of such data, but the province’s doctors are asking the courts to overturn that decision. Prince Edward Island is looking to make the information public through legislation.

New Brunswick’s Department of Health issued a 22-page list of doctors who received payments of more than $50,000. The 24 physicians received more than $1 million each. The highest payment of more than $1.5 million went to a radiologist.

The doctors were paid through salaries, fee-for-service billings or a combination of the two.

In making the information public, the province emphasized that the gross payments are not the same as salaries, since many doctors have overhead expenses that include, for example, rent and staff salaries.

Dr. Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, told a news conference that the province’s doctors did not object to the disclosure as long as the government made clear that payments are not the same thing as income.

“Physicians overall are comfortable with what’s going on,” the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal reported her as saying.