The interior of the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital - File

By The Canadian Press

Province making changes to doctor compensation

Feb 20, 2020 | 1:14 PM

EDMONTON – The Alberta government is making major changes to how it pays doctors.

After recent contract talks with doctors failed, Health Minister Tyler Shandro says the government is ending its master agreement with them and putting new rules in place starting April 1st.

Shandro says overall physician compensation will remain at the current level of more than five billion dollars a year.

But he says other changes will be made to fees and rules to prevent that physician budget rising another two billion dollars in the next few years.

Among the changes, doctors will no longer be allowed to bill for more than 65 patients a day.

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There will also be new fee rules on extended patient visits, known as complex modifiers.

The province will reduce the amount it pays on complex modifiers and extend the time limits on those visits starting next year.

The Alberta Medical Association has said the province doesn’t appreciate how much work goes into each patient, and that changing the complex modifier will devastate the bottom line for some family and rural practices.