Telemedicine appointments will disappear next year if Quebec moves forward with its decision to reduce prices for an online or telephone consultation, family doctors warn.
The Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) wrote to its members last Friday to inform them that the Legault government wanted to significantly reduce prices for telemedicine, established since the pandemic.
Rather than a call billed between $40 and $50, Quebec now offers to pay doctors in five-minute increments. The rates would be $9.95 for video or $7.46 over the phone for an in-office consultation.
In an establishment or at home, the doctor would receive $6.22 per five minutes for a telephone call or $8.29 for a video consultation.
“Derisory”
“The compensation offered by the government is derisory, regardless of the context of practice. It is in fact so low that in reality, a family doctor who devotes an entire day to teleconsultation would not qualify for a day worked according to the RAMQ criteria,” writes the FMOQ in the communication to its members. .
The union federation adds that, if no agreement is reached on teleconsultation by December 31, doctors will no longer be able to bill patients for this service.
At the moment, “12% of consultations are carried out remotely,” assesses the FMOQ.
Budgetary rigor
The union federation affirms that this decision risks reducing the number of appointments available without going to the office.
“We can think of students who study far from home or elderly people who have to travel outside their RPA,” illustrates Stéphane Gosselin.
The FMOQ questions the reasons that motivate Quebec to reduce prices for telemedicine. After all, the provincial Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, has already praised the benefits of this approach and even wanted to extend the offer covered by RAMQ via a platform called “Ma Santé”.
Stéphane Gosselin believes that the decision seems linked to the budgetary rigor applied to all ministries this year, in order to reduce the deficit of $11 billion.
Last week, after the distribution of the FMOQ newsletter, the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, declared on the X platform: “We fully recognize that telehealth is a solution that improves the efficiency of system and Quebecers’ access to health care. Our proposal, made at the negotiating table, is based on best practices that exist elsewhere.”
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