P.E.I. reaches new deal with its doctors

The province of Prince Edward Island has signed a five-year Physician Services Agreement alongside Health PEI. The government said the deal improves compensation across all specialties and features certain particular incentives for family doctors—with a view to making the province highly competitive in attracting such needed talent. “This new contract, combined with our Patient Medical Homes, collaborative care model, and the provincial EMR, creates the conditions to make PEI the new flagship province to practice family medicine,” a release said. The deal also recognizes Family Medicine as its own specialty, something it says is a first for any province in Canada. “The Agreement has reclassified family physicians to recognize them for their specialized skills and expertise, especially required in PEI’s rural medical system,” read the release from the province. “It also introduces a new incentive program for family physicians working on the Island today who have more patients than expected benchmark, as well as an option for physicians to take on new patients.” The new contract features increases to fee codes, and what the government called a “competitive” hourly salary. It also removes more than 450 different billing codes, reducing the number in use to just 31. All doctors will also get a $5,000 stipend for continuing medical education, annually, without having to do any paperwork to get it. On-call stipends are also getting a boost and there are new “features for fee-for-service physicians such as payment for indirect care, cancelled surgeries and overhead.”The contract also increases the profile of the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island by making it a partner “in making decisions throughout the life of the Agreement to address barriers identified in physicians doing their best work.”The contract is effective retroactively from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2029. Affecting about 340 members, 84.1% of the 79.6% eligible voters who turned out, voted in favour. “The new Physician Services Agreement shows a strong commitment on behalf of all partners to make PEI the best possible place to practice medicine,” said Melanie Fraser, chief executive officer for Health PEI, in the release. “Physicians are crucial to Patient Medical Homes, hospitals, long-term care and community care. This agreement will help us build the healthcare teams we need to ensure all Islanders receive excellent health service.”

P.E.I. reaches new deal with its doctors

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