B.C. doctors upset over delayed fee increase payments

Doctors in B.C. say they’re still waiting to get paid agreed-upon fee increases.

The province says both the Ministry of Health and Doctors of BC “are undertaking a multi-step process per the terms of the PMA to allocate the funding to individual physician fees. Approval on the allocations is expected soon.”

However, the situation is not sitting well with many physicians. The delay is causing frustration for doctors who are already under financial stress.

“It definitely doesn’t bode well. The (Physician) Master Agreement and the negotiated (Longitudinal Family Physician) agreement were really trying to help make sure that medicine in British Columbia — both family practice and specialty care — is something that everyone wants to do and is sustainable, and this is definitely a step in the wrong direction,” Doctors of BC President Dr. Joshua Greggain said Friday.

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In December of last year, doctors ratified a $708-million deal, with the province hoping this move would help attract and retain family physicians.

“Overhead costs and inflationary costs continue to rise. It seems to be day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, and yet, our increases that have already been negotiated are not going to be paid out for 18 months or two years,” Greggain explained.

“This is a really difficult time to feel like it’s worthwhile to run a business, to continue to be involved in medicine, when you aren’t being retroactively paid for an already agreed upon agreement.”

In a statement, the province tells CityNews the Physician Master Agreement was ratified on Dec. 5, 2022, and “came into effect, retroactively, as of April 1, 2022.”

“The Ministry of Health will be actively working with its contracted service provider, Health Insurance BC, to implement these fee increases and issue retroactive payments to physicians as soon as possible,” the email from the ministry reads. “The Ministry understands the cost pressures faced by physicians and is exploring options to expedite payment.”