The Ford government has heard the plea of doctors in the province and late Friday approved changes to allow doctors to get paid sooner rather than later.
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, doctors agreed to adopt new physical distancing measures and conduct phone and virtual consultations with patients, and in exchange the province allowed for doctors to bill for these appointments as if they were in person.
But a snag in the system meant clinics and doctors would not be paid until mid-June. The province had asked doctors to use specific billing codes for any virtual visit but those codes will take a while to be fully integrated into the system.
“The OHIP billing system doesn’t use the most advanced technology,” said one senior government source.
So to make sure that doctors, nurses and family clinic workers are paid for the work they continue to do, the province has agreed to make advanced payments.
The province will average out billings for a doctor for 12 months and give them advance payments up to 70% of that average. Doctors will still continue to bill OHIP and be paid in the usual fashion by the provincial health insurer but will start to pay back the province in November.
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See Also:
(1) Growing calls to re-open parks, expand streets to pedestrians amid COVID-19
(2) ‘No reason vaccine can’t be found in Ontario’: Ford announces $20 million research investment
(3) The results are in on the Texas nursing home using hydroxychloroquine
