JGH off-island patients will have to sign letter

As secretaries at the Jewish General Hospital were coached on Thursday about how to screen off-island patients, those patients insisting on undergoing care there can expect to have to sign a letter saying they understand they could receive treatment sooner by seeking care closer to home.

“We will accept those patients who absolutely refuse to go elsewhere,” said Joseph Portnoy, the Jewish General’s director of professional services.

But it is not clear if the hospital would get funding for those patients, or that doctors would be paid for their services, which is why some physicians at the hospital were saying on Thursday that off-island patients may have a right to choose their hospital in theory, but not in practice.

Certainly, with screening processes being put in place and letters being drafted to deter patients, the Quebec government’s insistence that patients still have as much choice as ever seemed questionable.

The draft version of the letter that patients will have to sign at the Jewish says: “It is likely that you will receive services sooner and avoid long travel times by seeking medical services, appointments with doctors and diagnostic testing at a more convenient and accessible health care facility closer to your home. We are therefore encouraging all patients who live off the island of Montreal to seek treatment and services at a hospital or clinic near where they live.”

A letter that Portnoy sent to physicians last month had said exceptions would be made only for off-island patients who qualify for research protocols, require ultra-specialized care or require a second opinion.

The option of insisting that they want to be treated at the Jewish wasn’t “advertised,” he said.

Those who insist on staying would have to sign a letter saying they were “directed to a hospital closer to their home but they absolutely refused to go there.”

However, he admitted they would then get an appointment at the Jewish and be put on standard waiting lists.

But then it may be a battle to get funding for them.

“We will have a letter from the patient we can show the agence (Montreal Health and Social Services Agency) and we’ll say, ‘Look, we’re in a deficit situation, we’re spending money, you’re not giving us money, so what do you want us to do with this patient who insists on coming to the Jewish?’”

He confirmed there was much anxiety among doctors at the hospital over the matter.

“Doctors are upset because they feel when a patient chooses to come to them, they shouldn’t have to be involved in this.”