Alberta doctors risk closures while waiting for Physician Comprehensive Care Model

Alberta physicians say they can’t wait any longer for the province’s promised Physician Comprehensive Care Model, which would help ease current financial pressures.

“We can see that our system is at a breaking point,” said Dr. Jon Hilner, a family doctor from St. Albert, Alta.

In December, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange committed to creating and implementing the Physician Comprehensive Care Model or PCCM by fall 2024. In April, the province, along with the Alberta Medical Association, started developing it.

On Thursday, LaGrange gave a progress update. “We knew from the start that developing a new physician compensation model would be a complex and time-consuming process. This work was never about quick fixes, and there is still a little more work to be done.”

Global News asked the minister’s office if the province can expect this model in 2024. The office responded with a statement that said Alberta’s government is committed to finalizing a compensation model that is “financially sustainable and supports both physicians and Albertans into the future.”

“We are committed to finalizing the key details of this agreement as soon as possible,” the minister’s office said. “To support physicians while we continue this work, Alberta’s government has committed an additional $257 million to stabilize the delivery of primary care through the Panel Management Support Program and Transitional Funding Program, with $157 million allocated for this year alone.”

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“When this announcement came through, that again, we were facing another delay despite the timeline being set entirely by government, it’s hard for people to continue to hold on to what seems like false hope,” Hilner said.

The Alberta Medical Association responded to Minister LaGrange’s progress update with a statement that said family medicine continues to be in crisis. 

“‘Progress’ toward a new compensation model is not the same as implementing the new model,” the association said. The new model needs to be implemented now, the AMA continued.

“The AMA has been working with the government on a fair and sustainable model for family and rural generalist physicians, the Physician Comprehensive Care Model (PCCM). The details of that model, including the model elements and rates, are complete. It’s ready. We are solely awaiting approval from the Minister of Health to implement the model. Further delays in the implementation of the PCCM means more physician clinics will close, leaving more Albertans without a family doctor.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hilner said, some clinics are hanging on.

“For some, this is the last straw, you know, the last cut that is going to affect them, and it’s devastation, right? There are clinics that are not going to survive this, that have been clinging on,” Hilner said. If the government was more transparent with why it is facing delays and what the delays are, family doctors could better set their expectations, Hilner added.

“Maybe we can find ways to creatively wait a little bit longer or stretch ourselves thinner, but when you’re making a commitment to deliver, and you don’t deliver, that breaks trust and brings more uncertainty to a system that every day is more difficult to know where it’s going,” Hilner said.

Instead doctors are left to wait, yet again.

“I hope many Albertans aren’t going to be receiving letters from their doctor in light of this announcement,” Hilner said.

The Alberta Medical Association is holding its biannual representative forum this weekend in Calgary. The association plans to make a formal response to the province’s progress report on Monday.

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