{"id":353746,"date":"2025-12-18T17:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/353746\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T17:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:59:10","slug":"dispute-over-health-p-e-i-benchmarks-for-family-doctors-now-settled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/353746\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispute over Health P.E.I. benchmarks for family doctors now settled"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Three of the biggest players in P.E.I.\u2019s health-care system have reached an agreement that sets more flexible models for how many patients family doctors can and should handle.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island entered mediation<\/a> with the province’s Department of Health and Wellness and Health P.E.I. over new operational guidelines for family doctors\u2019 workloads.<\/p>\n

The three parties have now agreed on an accountability framework for longitudinal family medicine on P.E.I., according to a joint news release from the three parties Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreed upon framework establishes clear and achievable accountability measures of productivity to support equitable workloads and to ensure transparency and consistency in how care is delivered,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

The framework offers four practice models with various panel size expectations for family doctors, \u201cproviding flexibility to ensure models fit physicians, the health system and patient needs,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are also new quality indicators focused on key areas that align with Health P.E.I.\u2019s strategic goals. These combined indicators will provide valuable insights at both the system and individual levels, supporting continuous improvement in patient care and care delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n

This marks a shift from earlier concerns raised by the medical society, which worried that rigid workload targets could drive family doctors away from the Island.<\/p>\n

Last year, the three parties celebrated the signing of a new Physician Services Agreement<\/a> \u2014 the province\u2019s contract with doctors \u2014 which took effect April 1.<\/p>\n

But tensions surfaced earlier this year when physicians represented by the medical society voiced concerns over Health P.E.I.’s new operational guide.<\/p>\n

That document included key performance indicators, or KPIs, that set out a requirement that each family doctor see 24 patients a day, based on an average appointment being 15 minutes long.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Mediator asked to help sort out dispute over what a P.E.I. family doctor’s workload should be:\"\"<\/p>\n

Mediator asked to help sort out dispute over what a P.E.I. family doctor’s workload should be <\/p>\n

The Medical Society of P.E.I., Health P.E.I. and the provincial government have agreed to go into mediation to resolve issues with how the latest Physician Services Agreement is being implemented. Halifax-based lawyer Bruce Outhouse has been named as the mediator, and all sides have agreed to meet with him no later than Sept. 30. CBC’s Stacey Janzer reports.<\/p>\n

Health P.E.I. also wanted a full-time family physician to have 1,600 people on their patient roster, although CEO Melanie Fraser later insisted that was a maximum number, not a minimum as the society understood the phrasing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supported by the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the medical society even threatened legal action<\/a>. The society had warned that the targets could push family doctors off the Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement reflects the shared commitment of the Department of Health and Wellness, Health P.E.I. and the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island to recruit and retain family physicians and work toward the goal of connecting every Islander to primary care,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis memorandum of understanding helps P.E.I. move forward in ensuring the Physician Services Agreement offers one of the most competitive physician compensation packages in Canada, along with new flexible practice options and clear accountability measures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-353746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}