On Saturday, March 7th the medical practitioners and physicians of Lacombe hosted a town hall to discuss what they think the 2020 provincial budget means for the future of rural healthcare.

The Lacombe County room at the Memorial Centre was at capacity requiring some visitors to stand for the duration of the presentation.  

The government of Alberta proposed eleven consultation proposals that physicians believe will be impacting the way they care for their patients and may even put patients at risk. However, the physicians attending the town hall also said they recognize the need for cuts. 

“We’ve always acknowledged the economic climate in Alberta. We understand it’s tough times and we appreciate the need to make cuts, but these particular cuts really target primary care and put our patients at risk. It’s our hope and intention that the government will listen come back to the negotiating table, and allow us to make cuts that don’t directly impact patient care as these ones do,” explained Doctor Kathy Unger, Rural Family Medicine in Lacombe, Alberta. 

The physicians believe one of the consultation proposals will inevitably limit the amount of a time a doctor spends with their patients with an upcoming change in complex modifiers. 

“Essentially the government has severely reduced a long-term plan of removing compensation for extra time spent with patients. It removes our ability to give that extra time to either deal with patients that have complex medical problems, or come to an appointment with several issues to discuss—and that happens often. We now no longer can spend that extra time with patients and be compensated for it in a way that allows us to continue to meet the demands of our overhead payers with our staff, and basically, keep our doors open,” added Unger. 

Without compensation, the doctors believe rural medical clinics will be forced to close because they will not be able to manage the cost without it. New physicians may seek work elsewhere in the country or even other parts of the world to continue their practice as a result.  

“As for new residents who are starting their practice off and making decisions on where they are going practice—on top of the fact that there are these huge wage cuts, there’s also a government that doesn’t respect contracts. All these things play into any person’s mind when they are making a decision whether they are going to be working long-term. So, absolutely it will come into play,” said Doctor Chris Sveen, Rural Family Doctor in Lacombe.

Dr. Chris Sveen addresses his concerns.

Doctor Unger believes hospital's emergency departments will be the most difficult to manage after the proposed changes. 

“If this government pushes through reductions in our earnings in the emergency room, and yet, we still have these significant overhead payments to keep our practice doors open, that may discourage physicians to provide emergency room care and coverage. That’s difficult because we have a very busy emergency room and it requires a great deal from us not just time but energy, emotional investment, staying current in our emergency medicine, and sleepless nights. If that is no longer viable to provide that care we will have a difficult time recruiting physicians to help cover that,” explained Unger. 

Additionally, many of the physicians attending believe the information from the MacKinnon Report was presented as misinformation by the government of Alberta. Although Albertan Physicians are paid well, they claim that the government misrepresented their wages as well as much of the information related to the budget cuts. 

“We are not [paid] 39 per cent better than the rest of the country which is one of the myths that this government has propagated... Part of it is yes, we are thankful to practice in Alberta. We are paid well here, but one of the myths was that doctors make $100,000 more than doctors in other provinces and that is simply not true,” said Unger.  

Dr. Kathy Unger addresses her concerns.

She believes the government has also reconstructed what is actually happening to Alberta healthcare by claiming that physicians are experiencing pay freezes when in reality, they are facing difficult cuts that will affect patient care. 

Above all, local physicians want to inspire negotiations between the Alberta government and the Alberta Medical Association to create a plan that benefits both parties involved. 

“These are tax dollars being spent. We don’t have any problem with a discussion on fair compensation and on wage reduction in tough times and I totally appreciate that. This is democracy and we have to emphasize that community engagement has to be a primary goal of any changes in anybody’s government. I am concerned as a citizen that ongoing decisions are being made without discussion of primary shareholders,” said Sveen. 

To inspire they change, they implored the citizens of Lacombe to write letters to MLA, Ron Orr and Health Minister, Tyler Shandro. Orr was meant to attend the town hall but was unable to make it that day. 

Despite Orr’s unavailability, Unger is confident the citizens of Lacombe will speak up on behalf of rural healthcare after seeing a substantial and responsive crowd at the LMC. Some attendees and business owners took petitions with them to take their places of work to gain more signatures and attention. 

“I am rather in love with our Lacombe community right now. We appreciated the support that was shown today.  We realize that we have a community of incredible people. Our hope is that this government will listen to the cries of doctors and their patients that are saying this plan does not work and come back to the negotiating table. Let’s find a new plan that works for everyone,” said Unger.