CEO of Canadian virtual health-care company defends charging for services
CBC
As the Liberal government pressures provinces to crack down on doctors charging money for medical services, the CEO of a virtual health-care clinic is defending the practice.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos sent a letter last week to his provincial and territorial counterparts raising the alarm about doctors charging for medically necessary services, and warning that his government would claw back federal health-care payments if this continues.
A senior government official told CBC that companies charging patients for virtual visits with a family physician are the chief targets of the federal move.
Dr. Brett Belchetz is the CEO of Maple, a company that lets Canadians book virtual appointments, usually text based, with general practitioners for $69 a pop, or a $30 monthly subscription. It also offers services paid for by provincial health-care plans, as well as some services billable to private insurers.
Maple has been using that business model for years, much to the chagrin of some public health-care advocates.
But Belchetz says it's all above board because the company only charges fees for services that aren't covered by a patient's provincial insurer. Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
What did you make of the minister's announcement?
It's disappointing that this is … where the minister is putting his efforts and attention, given what's happening in Canada's health-care system.
Our system came very close to the point of collapse when we were looking at November, December, January, when respiratory illness was peaking across the country. And it's very clear that Canadians are fed up with the system in terms of how it's functioning right now.
Let me just interrupt there, because what I'm asking about is this assertion that there are reports that companies such as Maple, your company, are charging people for medically necessary appointments that are available and should continue to be available to them for free.
What is defined as medically necessary in our health-care system is defined by the provinces. And how they define what is medically necessary are the services that they say that they will pay physicians or health-care providers to provide.
A good example of a service that the provincial governments say is not medically necessary and they will not pay for is something like laser eye surgery, which everybody agrees treats a medically important condition. Not being able to see distance is a big deal. But the government has said: This is not what we consider essential, we are not going to pay for it. And therefore, if you want to have laser eye surgery, Canadians have the right to pay out of pocket.
When we look at what the governments across our country have chosen to fund, they do not pay for nurse practitioners to treat patients. If you see a nurse practitioner, there is no billing code for that nurse practitioner's bill.
The provincial governments do not fund a physician to speak to you by secure messaging. So if you want to have an email conversation or a secure messaging conversation with your physician, that is not something that the provinces have decided is medically necessary.