{"id":591528,"date":"2026-04-09T02:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T02:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/591528\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T02:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T02:11:09","slug":"vulnerable-patients-may-not-receive-proper-care-cmq-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/591528\/","title":{"rendered":"Vulnerable patients may not receive proper care, CMQ warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president of the Coll\u00e8ge des m\u00e9decins du Qu\u00e9bec (CMQ) is worried vulnerable patients are being disadvantaged in the agreement<\/a> to register 500,000 patients with family doctors or family medicine groups (GMFs) by the end of June.<\/p>\n

Dr. Maril Gaudreault said the December agreement between Quebec and the federation representing family doctors, the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des m\u00e9decins omnipraticiens du Qu\u00e9bec (FMOQ), raises ethical concerns surrounding patient selection. Gaudreault cited a recent newsletter from the FMOQ to its members that he said instructs physicians to prioritize \u201ctrue orphans\u201d for registration with an individual family doctor, potentially excluding vulnerable patients who had been assigned to GMFs as a temporary measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current agreement does not seem to promote the proper care of vulnerable patients,\u201d Gaudreault said in an interview on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

The deal between the FMOQ and the government \u2014 reached after months-long disagreements \u2014 stipulates that 500,000 patients must be registered with a family doctor or GMF by June 30. Of them, 180,000 are to be vulnerable patients \u201cpresenting major or moderate health problems,\u201d according to the Quebec government\u2019s website. The other 320,000 will come from the province\u2019s family doctor wait-list.<\/p>\n

The agreement changes the way doctors are paid<\/a>, incentivizing them to take on more patients. Gaudreault said the bonus for enrolling \u201ctrue orphan\u201d patients to an individual doctor is higher than patients already associated with a GMF, which could limit access to appropriate care for the latter. Patients who are registered with GMFs have access to a group of doctors rather than one in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be noted that a patient registered collectively does not benefit from the oversight and continuity of care essential to their health condition, unlike a patient registered with a specific family doctor,\u201d Gaudreault wrote in an op-ed on the subject published Tuesday in La Presse<\/a>. \u201cThe FMOQ directive appears to result in real discrimination against fragile patients who are collectively registered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaudreault estimates there are about 85,000 vulnerable patients registered with GMFs in the Montreal area, including 5,000 who are considered \u201chighly fragile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked Thursday if the 180,000 spots set aside for vulnerable patients in the deal is enough to encompass those who require special care in Quebec, regardless of whether they\u2019re already affiliated with a GMF, Gaudreault admitted \u201cit\u2019s possible.\u201d But he said that either way, the directive has created discomfort among physicians who manage wait-lists since it contravenes rules related to priority, which are based on \u201cvulnerability and clinical needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose physicians also referred to the Code of Ethics (of Physicians),\u201d Gaudreault said Wednesday. \u201cSpecifically to Section 63, which states that priority access to care must be based solely on medical necessity. In this case, they felt that another factor was \u2026 affecting their decisions and creating discomfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Physicians were the ones who alerted the CMQ to the situation, he said. <\/p>\n

Asked to share the newsletter with The Gazette, Gaudreault declined, suggesting the FMOQ be asked instead. The FMOQ did not respond when asked for a copy of the newsletter. Earlier Wednesday, the group declined an interview request, replying by email that it would like to meet with the CMQ to \u201cbetter understand its public reaction.\u201d Gaudreault confirmed the CMQ will connect with the FMOQ.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> in February, the FMOQ said it had agreed to accelerate the registration of the 180,000 vulnerable patients (identified by the R\u00e9gie de l\u2019assurance maladie du Qu\u00e9bec) by March 31, \u201cto allow them to obtain an initial consultation with a family physician more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing this initial clinical assessment, they will be taken on individually to ensure longitudinal follow-up tailored to their needs, based on their health status,\u201d Dr. Marc-Andr\u00e9 Amyot, family physician and president of the FMOQ, wrote at the time. <\/p>\n

Health Minister Sonia B\u00e9langer, meanwhile, said in a statement Wednesday that she expects that patients already registered with GMFs and deemed vulnerable \u201cwill be cared for individually and receive all the care to which they are entitled, in full compliance with the rules of medical ethics.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gaudreault said B\u00e9langer appears to have understood the concerns, but last he heard \u201cthere is no change in the way of assigning and managing waiting lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

kthomas@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The president of the Coll\u00e8ge des m\u00e9decins du Qu\u00e9bec (CMQ) is worried vulnerable patients are being disadvantaged in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,218268,16622],"class_list":{"0":"post-591528","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","12":"tag-quebec-health-care","13":"tag-quebec-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591528","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=591528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}