Agreement with the general practitioners: this is not$ 1 billion but instead$1.6 billion

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Over the last four years, Québec has already paid about $ 12 billion in income to family doctors, an increase of 16 %.

Patrick Bellerose

Tuesday, 24 October 2017 00:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, 24 October 2017 00:00

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The invoice for the remuneration of family physicians climbs even higher, so that The Newspaper has learned that the agreement of $ 1 billion entered into with Quebec will cost more than $1.6 billion.

This amount represents the cumulative total of the lump sums and increases in recurring to the eight years of the agreement, ” says a source aware of the dossier to the treasury Board.

According to information collected by our parliamentary Bureau, the general practitioners will receive a wage increase retroactive to $ 50 million for the year 2015-2016, and $ 100 million in the following years and $ 340 million in 2022-2023.

Over the last four years, Québec has already paid about $ 12 billion in income to family doctors, an increase of 16 %.

Secret agreement

The broad lines of the agreement between Québec and the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec, were unveiled during a press conference chaotic the 6 of October, during which the information was disclosed to the dropper.

The president of the treasury Board at that time, Pierre Moreau, and its officials had refused to disclose the total amount of the agreement, while the press release contained no information on the content of the document.

However, Pierre Moreau had refused to make the document public, saying that the latter “is not a collective agreement” and that it contains “a trading strategy” in view of the talks with the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ).

Since then, the prime minister Philippe Couillard said that the agreement ” will be made public once negotiations are complete with the FMSQ.

Money

“There is very little new money in there “, has also claimed Philippe Couillard, referring to the $ 63 million in ” new money “.

Since the salary increase is estimated at 1.8 % (not including lump sums), the prime minister said he was convinced last Wednesday that ” the citizens who listen to us to see that we have a government here that is with fairness between all employees and the public sector professionals “.

An argument that has pushed the leader of the PQ at the blue Room. “I think that what has just been said by the prime minister, it is almost the only one to believe this : that, when it rations the care home, when there are long waiting lists for children who are in developmental disabilities and autism, to give $ 1 billion to doctors, it is fairness “, has launched Jean-François Lisée.

The cabinet of the new president of the treasury Board, Pierre Arcand, has not wanted to comment on.

Some information disclosed on the agreement

• In 2023, the increase of salary of family physicians will be 14.7 %.
• The government says that the annual increase amounted on average to 1.8 %.
• The agreement provides only $ 63 million in “new money,” according to Quebec.
• In addition to the wage increase, the agreement provides for a one-time amount of 635 million $.
• Quebec has approximately 9300 family physicians.

“The catch-up not completely done

Family physicians and their specialist colleagues received a remuneration of $ 7.7 billion $ last year, an increase of $ 2 billion in only four years.

The Journal revealed in September that the income of family physicians has experienced a growth of 16 % between 2012 and 2016. For specialists, the increase is 46 % over the same period.

In total, this represents a compensation of some $ 12 billion between 2012 and 2016 for general practitioners and 21 billion $ for medical specialists.

Despite all that, Quebecers do not have better access to care, said at the time, André-Pierre Contandriopoulos, professor in health administration at the University of Montreal.

New catch-up ?

These significant increases in incomes for doctors are related to catching-up with the doctors of Ontario granted to Quebec.

If the government Couillard believes that family physicians have now achieved gender parity, the president of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), Louis Godin, argues that a deviation of 15 % to 20 %, still with the province of Ontario.

“We think that, for family physicians, this catch-up is not completely done,” he said when revealing the new agreement.

Elsewhere, the canadian Institute for health information was mandated to determine whether there is still a difference between the remuneration of quebec physicians and that of their counterparts in ontario. If this is the case, Quebec and the FMOQ will negotiate a new catch-up.