Through 6 mos of @shandro attacking docs, I keep reflecting on Alice in Wonderland... fallen into chaos where the absurd is now the reality and what was “known” is now upside-down. Let’s take a step “through the looking glass” into the #shanarchy that’s now AB docs’ “reality”: 👇
First, a step back to where we were & could/should’ve been: AMA’s “contract” (Master Agreement) was due for re-negotiation by Mar 31, 2020. AMA & gov’t have HAD ++contentious negotiations before but both groups have always managed to push through to Partner on system improvement.
AB docs sincerely value health system quality & sustainability... to the extent of accepting multiple years of 0% increases & even voluntarily reducing physician spending ourselves by $200 million sev yrs ago. While overhead continues to rise & other provinces give increases...
Going into 2019-2020 negotiations, AMA recognized the economic realities and brought forward multiple system savings and improvement initiatives. We also offered to partner with gov’t on THEIR initiatives such as Surgical Wait-Times, Patient Med Home and increasing ARP uptake.
AMA did NOT ask for increases, instead making what is likely an unprecedented offer from a representative body/union... and Offered 5% across the board reduction instead of @shandro’s Targeted & destructive cuts to specific med areas. A balanced, fair [and predictable] approach.
Despite this, and after only a few days mediation (with another offer pending from AMA), @shandro utilized Bill 21 to unilaterally end the AMA “contract”. A Bill that was introduced PRIOR to negotiations even starting... proclaiming loudly gov’t lack of “good faith” negotiations.
Through this whole process, @shandro’s staff threw 11 “consultation” items and other major cuts at AMA (liability coverage, rural programs, business cost), 13.5 out of 16 of which were implemented Apr 1 despite pleas of docs/patients to HOLD the changes until at least post-COVID.
The Feb 20 tearing up of the AMA “contract” and Apr 1 changes were also in spite of AMA’s formal requests to exercise physicians’ rights to binding arbitration. @shandro again unilaterally denied this - resulting in the Constitutional rights legal challenge AMA recently launched.
To be blunt, it is completely Unknown the budget $$’s @shandro’s crew was expecting to “save”. Multiple of the cuts (including Med Liability coverage and Rural Remote incentives) were complete ???’s and others like hosp overhead, AHS stipends & daily caps were confusing/unclear.
Instead of a guaranteed -5% across the board “win”, @shandro imposed multiple, fairly inexplicably targeted cuts that resulted in unnecessarily complicated billings changes for docs. Added to COVID, it HAS been chaos as docs struggle to relearn ++codes, let alone estimate income.
Adding “insult to injury”, @shandro attempted yest to “pacify & divide” some docs by retracting SOME of the chaos. The blatant attack on AMA’s integrity & continued exclusion of AMA from ANY negotiation/consultation (in violation of the AB Health Care Insurance Act) is appalling.
Not only a transparent attempt to exclude AMA from their role as the negotiating body of physicians, but @shandro has effectively taken a MESS he had no need to create (-5% across the board OR arbitration options) and made an even BIGGER one. With an even more unclear $$$ result.
Feel free to quote me: the political “Spin” will be ALL changes have been retracted. They have NOT. That docs’ lives are back to normal. They are NOT. And that gov’t listened to docs/patients. They did NOT. I follow this very closely and even I cannot “translate” all the changes.
So back to our “Looking Glass”: docs have NO contract, were denied arbitration, have NO idea what we are being paid, have our “union” actively excluded from ANY negotiation/consultation (& disparaged by the Minister)... and have NO certainty this ALL won’t change again next week.
Absolutely NO doc is willing to work in @shandro’s nightmarish “Wonderland”. A mere 6 mos to descend from an amiable AMA-gov’t partnership for decades... to utter chaos for docs, patients AND the budget. It was unnecessary, mean-spirited & totally unforgivable.
#AMA_arbitration
#AMA_arbitration
