Thread by @shandro

Today, I’m pleased to announce significant investments to protect rural physician recruitment & retention:

▪️$81 million investment to rural health care, and
▪️Alberta’s incentive programs for rural doctors is the most generous in Canada.

More 👇alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI… 1/8

Our government has already made key changes to support physicians and patients during #COVID19AB and going forward. We’ve enabled physicians to bill unlimited virtual visits, and we’ve cancelled all proposed changes to complex modifiers. 2/8

There has been some misinformation that the modifiers were only suspended. This is not true. I want to be clear, all changes to complex modifiers are cancelled. 3/8

Changes announced today include:
➖Removing the $60,000 cap from the Rural & Remote Northern Program,
➖Rural physicians will be exempt from overhead policy,
➖Overhead changes will be paused for urban physicians pending policy review 4/8

Continued:
➖Medical liability rates will be frozen for rural & family physicians at $1,000 and capped to a max of $4,000 for urban physicians,
➖Rural on-call rates will increase from $11/hr to $20-$23/hr. 5/8

We will also be paying for the schooling of 20 medical students over the next three years to attract more young Albertans from rural communities into medical school. The student’s education will be paid for in exchange for them working in a rural community for three years. 6/8

I want to thank my rural caucus colleagues, who have been meeting & listening to their constituents over the last few months. I’m grateful for their commitment to rural Alberta and for working with me to find solutions. 7/8

Proud to make these changes today to ensure rural Albertans have access to safe and high-quality health care during #COVID19AB, and into the future by supporting rural doctors and strengthening recruitment and retention. 8/8