Pay Cut for Ontario Doctors

[Prince Medward]

Expect this to be replayed in every province with a deficit. Although, Ontario may financially be the worst province.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-warned-of-doctor-shortage-if-fee-cuts-go-ahead/article2415974/

[Apixaban85]

I thought the Drummond Report asked doctor's to simply freeze their salaries rather than encourage cuts?

 

Ms. Matthews insists Ontario doctors are already the best paid in Canada and earn, on average, $358,000 a year.

 

But the OMA disputes that claim, saying Ontario doctors rank seventh in the country in terms of their fees, according to the Canadian Institute of Health Information.

 

So, which one is it? Are Ontario doctors the best paid or 7th (I find it weird there can be dispute about this, especially if it's simply the average salary per year)?

[A-Stark]

Expect this to be replayed in every province with a deficit. Although, Ontario may financially be the worst province.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-warned-of-doctor-shortage-if-fee-cuts-go-ahead/article2415974/

 

Well, Alberta had a deficit this year, but I wouldn't expect anything like this to happen there. Even Nova Scotia's deficit is considerably smaller proportionally, I'm not aware of any untoward "austerity" measures, other than maybe limited fee increases (1% or something like that).

[aaronjw]

Read this earlier and I'm really don't buy into the whole argument that Doctors will move and frankly would have rather seen the OMA take a different stance because thry sound like teachers when they use this argument.

 

And of course you have the gov't touting the average pay for physicians which is inaccurate because it includes gross earnings. What the OMA should be doing, since gov't is using averages, providing an average that's more aligned to their net income and then break that down to an hourly average wage.

 

The argument style here is that, contrary to gov't portrayals, physicians are not getting rich. Yes, they are making considerably more than the average person which is a reflection of their number of years in school, training, and large debt when they exit as well as opportunity costs.

 

OMA has already agreed to a fee freeze and is willing to roll back some service fees for medical services where technology has sped up the service but hasn't been reflected in the billing shouldnt expect physicians to to bear the brunt of the the austerity measures simply because they're an easy target and because of the Ontario gov't poor management of finances. Doctors didn't get Ontario into this mess yet we're still willing to do our part.

 

Ontario has thrown away billions alone just his year in ORNGE fisasco, windmills and renging on power plants. It would be those in power who accept responsibility and take the hardest hit to demonstrate to the rest of the province why they they should as well. When gov't is willing to roll back their salaries, pensions and benefits 50% in good faith effort then physicians will do more of our part then already doing.

 

OMA needs to spin this differently, very differently. They have a voice to raise the level of public debate and should take it on.

[1234]

Change ophthamology and radiology billing for cataracts and CT reading and the province is set.

[Robin Hood]

Read this earlier and I'm really don't buy into the whole argument that Doctors will move and frankly would have rather seen the OMA take a different stance because thry sound like teachers when they use this argument.

 

And of course you have the gov't touting the average pay for physicians which is inaccurate because it includes gross earnings. What the OMA should be doing, since gov't is using averages, providing an average that's more aligned to their net income and then break that down to an hourly average wage.

 

The argument style here is that, contrary to gov't portrayals, physicians are not getting rich. Yes, they are making considerably more than the average person which is a reflection of their number of years in school, training, and large debt when they exit as well as opportunity costs.

 

OMA has already agreed to a fee freeze and is willing to roll back some service fees for medical services where technology has sped up the service but hasn't been reflected in the billing shouldnt expect physicians to to bear the brunt of the the austerity measures simply because they're an easy target and because of the Ontario gov't poor management of finances. Doctors didn't get Ontario into this mess yet we're still willing to do our part.

 

Ontario has thrown away billions alone just his year in ORNGE fisasco, windmills and renging on power plants. It would be those in power who accept responsibility and take the hardest hit to demonstrate to the rest of the province why they they should as well. When gov't is willing to roll back their salaries, pensions and benefits 50% in good faith effort then physicians will do more of our part then already doing.

 

OMA needs to spin this differently, very differently. They have a voice to raise the level of public debate and should take it on.

 

The OMA argument is poor, it makes doctors look greedy.

[aaronjw]

The OMA argument is poor, it makes doctors look greedy.

 

The argument isn't poor. They've AGREED to a fee freeze and cuts to some fee services like mentioned above.

[1234]

I thought the Drummond Report asked doctor's to simply freeze their salaries rather than encourage cuts?

 

 

 

So, which one is it? Are Ontario doctors the best paid or 7th (I find it weird there can be dispute about this, especially if it's simply the average salary per year)?

 

http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/en/document/spending+and+health+workforce/workforce/physicians/release_15dec11_tab4

 

Latest data is 2009-2010 fiscal year.

 

Ontario ranks 4th in the country with respect to gross billing over 60K.

[1234]

The OMA argument is poor, it makes doctors look greedy.

 

The OMA exists to represent physicians and protect physician interests. That is only way to protect interests. Both the government and OMA take extreme positions, and what is fair is somewhere split down the middle.

 

Both parties aren't going to take the risk of underrepresenting their interest and giving in because then you get an imbalanced result and future turmoil. It's like tug of war - if both sides pull as hard as they can, the center flag moves slowly but is most representative of the truth. If one side is too easy, the final result is significantly imbalanced.

 

Bad analogy but it kinda works.

[10wattbulb]

The OMA exists to represent physicians and protect physician interests. That is only way to protect interests. Both the government and OMA take extreme positions, and what is fair is somewhere split down the middle.

 

Both parties aren't going to take the risk of underrepresenting their interest and giving in because then you get an imbalanced result and future turmoil. It's like tug of war - if both sides pull as hard as they can, the center flag moves slowly but is most representative of the truth. If one side is too easy, the final result is significantly imbalanced.

 

Bad analogy but it kinda works.

 

If both sides were a bit more reasonable with their arguments and pulling less hard on the rope, they'd have a better chance of getting somewhere...

[Der Kaiser]

http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/en/document/spending+and+health+workforce/workforce/physicians/release_15dec11_tab4

 

Latest data is 2009-2010 fiscal year.

 

Ontario ranks 4th in the country with respect to gross billing over 60K.

 

Drummond did not cite a source for his claim re: doc salaries in Ontario. It really depends if you look at blended capitation or fee for service. I think with blended cap they are the highest paid, but rank lower with fee for service. It's a little unclear.

[aaronjw]

What a crock of ****. I'm practicing to the states when I'm done.

 

Thank god that I, my family and friends won't have to worry about you being our physician.

[iwishiwasa]

What a crock of ****. I'm practicing to the states when I'm done.

 

Oh no, you'll only be making 250k instead of 300k, how will you survive!!