poe Arbitrator awards docs 11.3 per cent pay hike give average physician an extra $60,000 200m package to B.C. DOCTORS have relied on in- creases already given their Alberta counterparts to claim retroactive fee hikes amounting to more than 11 per cent and which work out to more than $200 million a year. As it is, the province’s doctors now earn $1.9 billion a year in var- ious payment methods, approaching 20 per cent of the entire health care _ budget. — Lee . And northern and rural doctors are to make more than their urban col- ‘leagues for being on call. All told, B.C. doctors received ‘a hike of 6.2 per cent backdated to April 2001 and a further 5.1 per cent compounded and backdated to Nov. 2001 in an arbitration award released late last week, Critics of the package, including provincial finance minister Gary ‘Collins, say the monetary require- ment will put a further strain on the ‘province’s medical system. ‘The award decision was released _just two days after Collins an- nounced he was raising medical ser- vices plan premiums by nearly $400 million ta pay for increased health Sector wage costs. He had assigned some of that new money for doctor fee increases, but the arbitration award has outstripped his expectations. Doctor shortage coming B.C. ISN’T training enough physicians to replace those getting older who will soon tetire, says the president of their association. Dr. Heidi Oetter of the B.C. Medical Association (BCMA) says the province needs 300 new physicians a year and that an increase from 120 to 128 spaces at UBC’s medical .school isn’t nearly enough. As it is, the BCMA es- timates 100,000 British. Columbians cannot now find a family doctor. “We have to become self sustaining when it comes to providing physi- cians,” Oetter said Oetter said the province has for too long depended upon attracting doctors from other provinces and from other countries in- stead of putting resources into home-grown ones. Many doctors were re- cruited from South Africa when it was going through political turmoil in the 1980s and early 1990s - a tactic that rio longer works. “That was morally and ethically wrong. It became almost a justification over time,” Octter said of de- (pending upon problems in other countries ta bring physicians to B.C. The BCMA estimates 40 per cent of B.C. doctors are over the age of 50 and that more than 40 per cent of those in some of the specialities are over 55, Gender is another factor affecting physician supply. Women now make up 60 per cent of medical school students but work fewer hours upon gradua- tion than their male coun- lerparts and take time off when they have children. The BCMA is particu- larly worried about physi- cian supply when in more tural and remote areas. Although Terrace has so far escaped problems from a lack of family doctors, that wasn’t the case re- cently in Smithers. Dr. Geoff Appleton, a local BCMA representa- live, said the departure there of four family physi- cians last year caused a crisis in that community. One possible solution is a plan developed by the University of Northern British Columbia to deve- lop a northern medical training program. The idea is people from the north or those who train in the north will bé more inclined to stay in the north. But that depends on re- ceiving money from the province =- which: may be uncertain. : a Generally speaking, doctors will Teceive an average income boost of $60,000 over two years. Final totals will depend upon haw much each doctar bills, Former Chief Justice Allan Mc- Eachern, who chaired the three- member arbitration panel, generally accepted physicians’ claims that What their Albertan counterparts make. should. be used as-a fee in- crease guideline here. “Alberta is our closest neighbour and strongest competitor for physi- “Other provinces must be expecied, over time, to match the Alberta standard.” cians, and other provinces must be expected, over time, to match the Alberta standard in order to recruit and retain the physicians they need,” wrote McEachern in a deci- sion of more than 200 pages. McEachern’s award is regarded as an interim one. While it refers to an Alberta provision for a 9.1 per cent increase there as of April 1 of this year, it does not call for any further hikes here, saying that should be subject to further negotiations. McEachern also worked to smooth oul the matter of on-call payments, money to be paid to doc- tors who, while they might not be on duty and working, are expected to tespond when called upon. Rural doctors already receive on- call payments in addition to their normal fees but the same provision’ isn’t extended to urban ones. Rural doctors. now make a blanket $10 an hour. That’s to increase to $20 an hour as of Oct. 1 this year and reach as much as $40 an hour depending upon the day of the week and time of day. Urban doctors are to teceive 75 per cent of the amount to be earned by rural physicians. B.C, Medical Association presi- dent Dr, Heidi Oetter said her group Supports the decision. “This agreement will help ensure we begin to attract and retain the physicians that we need to look after patients today and in the future,” she ° said. McEachern mainly rejected the financizl position put forward by the provincial government. It “cannot expect that it would seek on one hand to arbitrate reason- able compensation and then say on the other hand that reasonable com- pensation cannot be paid because of its financial circumstances,” he said. a ele Feat ta The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - All Pre-Season Deposits Now Until April 2002 —— © 150 H.P. 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