Alberta government closing in on new pay model to attract family doctors

The Alberta government says it's closing in on a new deal for family doctor pay, but a physicians' group says it must include those with small patient rosters.

The details of the framework announced Wednesday have yet to be hammered out, including specific pay rates.

"This compensation model will provide the necessary supports so family medicine and rural generalist physicians can provide Albertans with the lifelong care they need and that they deserve," Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said at a news conference Wednesday.

LaGrange said once the new model takes effect in the fall, Alberta will be a national leader in family doctor compensation. She did not directly answer questions about whether Alberta family doctors would be the highest-paid in the country.

The announcement comes after Premier Danielle Smith promised late last year to ensure every Albertan has a primary health provider by the next election, expected in 2027.

Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Paul Parks said the agreement is a positive step forward after several years in which some family doctors found their practices untenable. He said some physicians have been "under crushing financial pressures" and others have left the field entirely.

Although the minister has touted increases in the number of family doctors registered to practise in Alberta, those statistics do not indicate how often those doctors work.

Earlier this week, the Business Council of Alberta published data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and Statistics Canada showing the number of Alberta doctors per capita has declined since 2019, in contrast with the national trend.

To qualify for the incoming family medicine pay model, doctors must provide a certain number of hours of service, see most patients in person, and commit to joining a provincial registry tracking doctor-patient relationships.

Two committees made up of doctors and government representatives will finalize details, including how many patients a doctor must have on their roster to qualify for the new payment approach.

That number could be a stumbling block, as 700 Alberta family doctors have a panel of fewer than 500 patients, according to government data. Those doctors recently were left out of a provincial government cash injection to keep family physicians afloat.

The new model would allow doctors to get paid for time they spend completing paperwork or reviewing patient lab results — free labour under the current fee-for-service model. It would also have incentives for taking on more complex patients with many health challenges, and for taking on larger patient loads.

"My colleagues tell me how they look at labs at 10 o'clock at night if there's a critical lab for their family practice patients," Parks said.

WATCH: The president of the Alberta Medical Association on the strain on Alberta hospitals