Here’s an idea for Gaétan Barrette
Let’s outsource X-ray reading to a cheaper part of the world, Daniel Lalla suggests.
If we support Gaétan Barrette’s crusade to save money on health care, perhaps the biggest cutbacks should be in one of the best-paid specialties: his.
After all, many radiologists just sit in their offices looking at X-rays and issue reports without ever seeing a patient. X-rays are just like blood tests: a technical report. This is a very expensive service, which could be outsourced to many cheaper parts of the world. Imagine the enormous savings: After all, radiologists are among the highest-paid specialists here! And public radiology is also plagued by long waiting lists. Hence the high number of private clinics. (Is this what Barrette wants for general practice?)
The quality of radiologists in other countries is excellent, for the most part. And if they’re not seeing the patient, does it even matter where the radiologist is? Many already read films at a great distance via Internet from all over the province.
Barrette might say the quality is too important to leave to radiologists from elsewhere, but an X-ray is just an X-ray: no matter where. We could outsource and place the images on the open market for the cheapest price.
I know it could be a serious financial blow to the minister of health and his wife (both radiologists), but we must just save money at all costs, correct? The few radiologists who would be left in Quebec could be forced by a special law to do all the less desirable hands-on work (ultrasound, injections, etc.). Then maybe we wouldn’t have insanely long waiting lists for those services and wouldn’t need some of the largest number of private X-ray clinics in the country any more. And while we’re at it, let’s arbitrarily cut radiologists’ pay. By 30 per cent sounds about right.
Of course, no medical student would want to
"Now before my radiologist colleagues go ballistic, please understand that my proposal is totally tongue-in-cheek.
choose to study radiology ever again. Morale among radiologists has generally been good, but that could be just as effectively destroyed with a special law (as Bill 20 will do for family doctors). The quality in radiology might decline, but we’ll save money or push all radiologists into private practice!
Now before my radiologist colleagues go ballistic, please understand that my proposal is totally tongue-in-cheek. I do not, for one moment, believe we should do this, but there’s no technical reason why we couldn’t.
In fact, I think radiologists work hard and deserve their pay. But why does Barrette not accord family doctors the same (or any) respect? My point is, if it’s OK to destroy family medicine, and we follow Barrette’s logic, we should start by cutting the higher-paid jobs.
Quality family medicine is the basis of any sustainable health-care system and has been increasingly valued elsewhere. Barrette’s faux outrage and vitriol against the front-line physicians who spend time with their patients, trying to manage their health (despite a broken system) is unacceptable.
After 20 years of being unique in Canada in being forced by law to leave our offices to cover our health institutions, Barrette now seems surprised that we are not in our offices. His law cannot force people to be in two places at once. We are the only province that forces doctors out of the office, and that’s what happened, by design. Now don’t pretend to be shocked.
Like most politicians who increase their pay while cutting salaries of others, Barrette is not touching his own specialty.
Why will he not do his job properly, and talk with those who work in our system to find legitimate ways to fix it?
Daniel Lalla is a family doctor in Cowansville.