Medical association calls for more funding
REGINA “Modest” is the Saskatchewan Medical Association’s diagnosis of the increase to health-care spending in the latest provincial budget.
The 2018-19 budget released Tuesday invests $5.77 billion in health care, up nearly 2.5 per cent from last year.
Dr. Joanne Sivertson, president of the SMA, acknowledged the province’s current fiscal challenges, but added: “The per capita spending has been dropping so we recognize that in the near future, there will need to be some more substantial investments into health care so that we can make the changes necessary to the system.”
New dollars are required for integrated data information systems, she said.
“They’ve been making some good headway in terms of a provincial eHealth portal where we hold information from our labs and a lot of the imaging,” Sivertson said. “Some of the patient visits are logged there, but really what we need to see is a provincial health record.”
When all medical professionals can access shared information that is accurate and timely, the quality of care increases and costs go down because fewer efforts — such as tests — are duplicated, she said.
In this year’s budget, eHealth Saskatchewan was allocated $102.6 million. This includes $39 million that will transfer from the SHA to eHealth to support additional IT services and resources, such as infrastructure, ongoing software maintenance, salaries and benefits.
“Our focus has really been understanding which clinical documents are most important for the continuity and care of patients,” said Davin Church, interim director of programs with eHealth Saskatchewan.
The Electronic Health Record Viewer (eHR Viewer) is a secure website that gives health-care providers quick access to patient clinical information, regardless of where an individual went for care or where they live in Saskatchewan.
About 10,000 health-care providers have access to the eHR Viewer, including pharmacists, nurse practitioners and around 2,000 physicians.
In the past three years, information has expanded to include 90 per cent of lab results, transcribed reports, which include consults and discharge summaries, immunization records, drugs dispensed from community pharmacies and medical imaging done in SHA facilities as well as from some communitybased radiology clinics.
“We’ve done a lot of work with the medical association to improve the uptake of the use of the eHR,” Church said.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve almost tripled our user base of those who have access to the provincial eHR.”
Work is also underway to improve the way providers access information.
The SMA is pleased the budget provides for universal drug coverage for HIV medications and $11.4 million in new funding to improve mental health services — $9.2 million from the feds and $2.2 million from the province.
However, Sivertson noted Saskatchewan lags behind most other provinces in mental health spending.
“We know that we’re seeing greater and greater need in the province and across the country in general,” she said. “I’m glad that the federal government is recognizing the great importance of mental health and I think that investment in mental health ultimately is beneficial to the economy.”
The provincial budget allotted $49.4 million for 2018-19 to address increased physician services costs.
“It’s not actually more money for retaining physicians or paying physicians more,” Sivertson said. “It’s to pay for the additional work that’s being done.”
Of that investment, $27.5 million will pay physicians compensated through fee for service; $19.9 million for an increase in the number of specialist and primary physicians with contracts; and $2 million for out-of-province funding for physician services accessed by Saskatchewan residents.
Physicians in Saskatchewan are paid competitively, Sivertson said.
“There is still some lack of clarity around whether or not that’s because we are still working harder than the physicians in the provinces next to us,” she said. “Still, we do have fewer physicians per capita than the provinces next to us.”
Sivertson believes doctors are feeling more positive about their current work environment because the number of physicians per capita is increasing.
However, she noted more doctors are required in rural and remote areas of the province.