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<\/p>\nThree of the biggest players in Prince Edward Island’s health-care system have agreed to begin a mediation process regarding how many patients family doctors can and should handle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a joint news release late Tuesday, the Medical Society of P.E.I., along with the Department of Health and Wellness and Health P.E.I. said they’ve been having “meaningful\u00a0and constructive” conversations “over the past number of days” about a controversial\u00a0side document to the latest Physician Services Agreement.<\/p>\n
“While the mediation process unfolds, government, Health P.E.I. and [the society] will work together so Islanders will continue to gain access to primary care services \u2014 including those who are currently on the patient registry,” the joint statement from the group said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The proposed key performance indicators will be paused until resolved through mediation. All parties have also agreed\u00a0to an interim\u00a0patient affiliation\u00a0plan.\u00a0This ensures continuity of care and reinforces our shared commitment of improving access for all Islanders.”<\/p>\n
A copy of the mediation agreement provided to CBC News on Wednesday said the mediator would be Bruce Outhouse. He is required to meet with the parties no later than Sept. 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the last six weeks, doctors represented\u00a0by the medical society have been crying foul over\u00a0Health P.E.I.’s new operational guide. That document includes key performance indicators, or KPIs,\u00a0that\u00a0set out a requirement that each family doctor see 24 patients a day, based on an average appointment being 15 minutes long.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Standoff between P.E.I. family doctors and the province has physicians elsewhere in Canada watching<\/p>\n
The dispute between the P.E.I. Medical Society and Health P.E.I. has caught the attention of doctors across the country. The College of Family Physicians of Canada says doctors are talking, and are disheartened by what is happening in P.E.I. CBC\u2019s Louise Martin talks to college president Dr. Carrie Bernard. <\/p>\n
Health P.E.I. also wanted a full-time family physician to have 1,600 people on their 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\u00a0College of Family Physicians of Canada,\u00a0the medical society even threatened\u00a0legal action.<\/p>\n
Among other things, they said they had been sidelined from discussions about the new benchmarks, the targets were unachievable without hurting patient care, and the 1,600-patient goal would drive family doctors from the Island just months after the three parties had celebrated\u00a0signing\u00a0a new Physician Services Agreement.<\/p>\n
That agreement\u00a0\u2014 basically, the doctors’ contract with the province\u00a0\u2014 had boosted the pay of general practitioners and made family medicine a medical specialty.\u00a0Dr. Krista Cassell, the president of the Medical Society of P.E.I., had called it “transformational” and “the best in the country.”<\/p>\n
However, that agreement had left some issues to be negotiated later, including\u00a0benchmarks for what success would look like.<\/p>\n
“A key pillar of this agreement is the shared understanding and commitment that accountability must exist at every level of the health-care system,” Tuesday’s statement said. “All parties anticipate that successful mediation will lead to clarity around the development and implementation of KPIs and their associated benchmarks.”<\/p>\n
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Changes are coming to P.E.I.’s patient registry. What will they mean if you’re waiting for a doctor?<\/p>\n
Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser is overseeing some shifts in how people will get medical care on the Island. She says medical homes and neighbourhoods are becoming easier to set up, the number of steps involved in recruiting doctors has been slashed \u2014 and some changes are coming to how P.E.I.’s patient registry will work. <\/p>\n
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