The Ontario government and the Medical Association of Ontario (OMA) say that they are close to reaching a new compensation agreement for doctors working in family health organizations, which intends to attract more doctors to family medicine in the midst of a shortage of provincial doctor.
Both parties say that the proposed changes, which would affect approximately 6,500 family doctors, intend to encourage more doctors to practice or remain in a comprehensive family medicine. Negotiations are happening since more than two million inhabitants of Ontario do not have a family doctor.
The new model, called FHO+, would allow doctors to invoice the administrative tasks that are currently not paid, in addition to clinical tasks, according to the OMA. TThe ontario College of Family Physicans says In an average week, doctors spend approximately 19 hours in administrative tasks, such as completing forms, drawing and reviewing the results of the tests.
An OMA spokesman said in an email that the new compensation model “acknowledges that family doctors are treating patients with increasingly complex conditions, who often require doctors to spend more time completing administrative tasks.”
“We believe that allowing family doctors to invoice for this largest administrative workload will attract and retain more in Ontario,” said Julia Costanzo in the statement sent by email.
“Our hope is that this new model allows more ontaries [be] able to access a family doctor. “
The new data show that 2.5 million Ontario residents now do not have a family doctor. That is 1.8 million only four years ago. The Ontario Family Medical College reported the numbers and says that urgent action is needed to address the problem. Tyler Cheese of CBC has the story.
The FHO+ model will also end with the “denial”, according to the OMA statement, the practice of financially penalizing a family doctor when a patient who is part of a family health team goes to a clinic without appointment or an emergency department for non -emergency care.
The proposed agreement would update the current compensation model, which pays doctors who work in the 615 family health organizations in the province through capitation. While the different doctors are compensated in different ways, most family doctors receive an annual government payment for each patient on their list, with payments adjusted by factors such as the age and complexity of the patient.
Bachir Tazkarji, a family doctor and medical director of the Teaching Unit of the Summerville family health, says that he believes that the new agreement would make integral family medicine a greater attraction for new doctors.
“Doctors remain away from the integral practice of family medicine, because they have less compensation, where, if they are working in hospitals or, for example, they are compensated for more of this work,” he said, adding that around 15 to 35 percent of his month is dedicated to doing administrative work.
“I think this [deal] It will be very attractive and useful for doctors for a better quality of life, reducing exhaustion and improving patient care, improving direct contact with patients, “he said.
The Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, told journalists at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday that she would not comment on the details of the negotiations with OMA, but that the conversations have been generally positive.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said in an email that “the FHO+ model inceptions to the registration of new patients, promotes change procedures to clinics instead of emergency departments and strengthens incentives for care after care to expand access.”
The proposed agreement was sent to arbitration in June, and a decision is expected in autumn. The CEO of Oma, Kimberly Moran, says that the agreement is agreed around 90 percent and would be in its place in April 2026 if it ends.
She told CBC Radio Right now On Wednesday that, although it is important that doctors be compensated by “the really large and alarming amount of clinical administration time they are spending”, the province also needs to support doctors with artificial intelligence equipment and tools that will reduce work first.
“They did not go to the Medicine School [to be] on your computer. They went to the Medicine School because they like to treat patients, “he said.
The Ford government has promised to connect all the ontories with a family doctor or a primary care team by 2029.
