Quebec floated plan to shift doctors to most vulnerable. Are they reconsidering?

Quebec floated a plan to reassign family doctors from healthy patients to the most vulnerable, a move experts warn could be 'detrimental' to overall patient care.

Quebec’s health minister is attempting to reassure the public they won’t lose their family doctors, following a controversial proposal suggesting the redistribution of physicians from healthy patients to the most vulnerable populations.

Minister of Health and Social Services Christian Dubé took to X in French on Thursday letting Quebecers know they will keep their family doctors following pushback from the report. He stated the province is taking all measures to improve access and streamline front-line care, but did not clarify whether the proposed plan was entirely off the table.

“Quebecers who have a family doctor will keep them. We want to reassure the population. Just as we committed to in our Health plan, our goal is clear: we are taking all measures to facilitate access and simplify the organization of front-line care, and this, for all Quebecers,” he said in French.

“Now, let’s let the negotiations run their course.”

In a report released Oct. 9, the Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS), commissioned by Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services, examined a number of scenarios aimed at addressing the family doctor crisis in Quebec.

The report suggests one approach to addressing the family doctor crisis is where healthy Quebecers would lose their registration with a family doctor. This change would free up 1.5 million appointment slots, which would then be reallocated to serve vulnerable patients, it stated.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services also previously said the idea remained just a proposal and lacked any concrete plans at this stage.