Almost 600 doctors warn UCP cuts will lead to ‘brain drain’

EDMONTON Alberta’s health-care industry is at risk of a brain drain if the UCP continues to make cuts, warns a letter signed by nearly 600 doctors.

The letter, sent Tuesday by Calgary doctor Will White to Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Calgary Mountain View MLA Kathleen Ganley, says doctors and medical students will leave the province if the government continues to make changes to doctors’ pay without consultations. Fewer staff, it cautions, would place an added burden on the health-care system. The letter has been signed by 568 doctors from across the province.

In an interview Wednesday, White said the government is playing a game of Jenga with the health-care system. He warned pulling funding from family physicians could overburden emergency rooms.

“We have to cut budgets, everybody knows that and everybody is willing to take their fair share of the burden. But it has to be done in a way that’s fair and it’s thoughtfully done,” said White, who is a psychiatrist at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital.

“If you’re going to go in and start operating on somebody, you don’t just start cutting things, you need to have a plan ... I think they’re trying to do some important stuff but it feels like they’re doing it without adequate expert consultations.”

Last fall, the government passed Bill 21, which gave it the right to unilaterally end its agreement with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA). The government ended the contract in February after negotiations broke down. The contract, which had been set to expire at the end of March, outlined doctor pay, benefits and working conditions.

“How can you try to plan with someone who creates a precedent of just going back on their word where even a legally binding contract really doesn’t mean anything?” said White.

White said the changes mean he will lose money for three of his most billed services, including assessments, followup treatment sessions and meeting with a family and their patients.

He said has also heard from medical students who are now looking at options to work outside the province once they graduate.

The province will also no longer allow physicians to bill for overhead costs for all hospital-based services and cap the number of patients a doctor can bill for in a day at 65.

At a news conference Wednesday regarding initiatives to reduce surgery wait times, Shandro said there has been a lot of misunderstanding among doctors and other health-care professionals about what is actually changing.

“We are going to ensure that we are continuing to pay our physicians in this province so that they are among the highest paid in this country,” said Shandro. “We want to be able to provide stable predictable funding and part of it is to be able to offer the physician contract plans rather than the fee for service. We actually want to keep those patients in clinics and not emergency rooms.”