Family physicians say health sector cuts will hurt sickest patients

Doctor visits may be short and sweet thanks to cuts Watch: After the Alberta government announced cuts for doctors, many physicians say it will affect treatment. Kathy Le reports.

Calgary — A handful of doctors in the province are raising concerns about how the United Conservative Party’s cuts to healthcare will impact patients who need to see their family physician.

The UCP proposed an income reduction to physicians starting in early 2020 and doctors say this would mean they'll have to spend less time with patients in order to sustain their practices.

“Some doctors are saying it’s going to be 30 to 40 per cent less time per patient, even up to 50 per cent, and that impacts our ability to do our jobs,” said Dr. Avneet Brar, a family physician with the Airdrie Community Physicians Association.

Association chair, Dr. Fozia Alvi, says reducing time spent with patients will greatly impact those with complex issues.

“With complex patients who have chronic medical needs, for example cancer patients and those with diabetes and children with their complex congenital issues or mental health issues, sometimes we need to spend half an hour with those patients," she said.

"I can’t wrap my head around how I can do that in five to 10 minutes."

A patient of Alvi who has to travel from out of town to access health care, Cindy Anderson says if she can only see her doctor for a limited amount of time, it would prevent her from making the trip.

“I’m very concerned because what’s going to happen to me personally is, if it’s not an issue for medication that needs to be filled, I may just skip coming in when I should be coming in, and it may cause me to do some self-diagnosis, which I don’t agree with in the first place,” she said.

“I am angry because it isn’t just a case of being able to come in and see your doctor. It’s establishing a relationship with your doctor so they understand where you are coming from.”

The province released a statement in response to the cuts.

“We’ve increased the health budget by $200 million this year," it read.

"We are not cutting spending on physicians. We’ll spend $5.4 billion on physicians this year, an $80 million increase from last year’s budget and nearly one-quarter of the entire health care budget. Our payments to physicians are 24 per cent higher than in B.C., Ontario and Quebec”

Alvi says it is not true Alberta doctors get paid more overall compared to physicians in other provinces. Alberta doctors do have higher fees for service compared to doctors in other provinces, she said, but they don’t get any other compensation or top-ups like physicians do in other provinces.

Alvi contends the cuts will have unintended consequences such a longer wait times in emergency rooms and difficulty retaining doctors in rural areas.

“I think it will be extremely difficult. We are going to lose most of physicians and lots of practices are going to close their doors they will not have any option,” she said.

The province says it’s made some proposals to control costs as it begins negotiations for a new agreement with the Alberta Medical Association and the AMA has until Dec. 20 to respond.