(Quebec) The Auditor General (AG) supports the Legault government’s approach to have access to data on the occupation and care of family doctors, provided that the necessary locks are put in place to avoid the failures of the past.
Posted yesterday at 6:21 p.m.
Minister Christian Dubé’s Bill 11 responds in particular to recommendations issued by the VG itself in 2020 when it asked “to obtain quality data in order to assess access to family doctors”.
The success of the legislative text will be “dependent on the entry of data” both by the doctors themselves and by the establishments of the network, explained Guylaine Leclerc, during consultations on the bill on Wednesday.
” For the [ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux], the quantity and the quality of the data that comes from the establishments, it is a continuous challenge. It will remain a challenge for the Ministry,” she told parliamentarians.
Quebec wants to obtain more precise data on the activities of family doctors to better organize the offer. More than 800,000 Quebecers are registered with the Family Doctor Access Window. Christian Dubé has in his sights to deploy a kind of “Trivago” to obtain a consultation in less than 36 hours.
If he wants to achieve his objectives, the minister must in particular ensure “a link between the current systems” so that the “data are of quality and usable”, warned Guylaine Leclerc.
The MSSS must also have access to the time slots of all physicians and be able to verify that these availabilities are indeed included in the appointment scheduling system.
“If these elements are not taken into account, the MSSS could spend several million to achieve the same results as with the Rendez-vous santé Québec system, namely that the ministry does not have the information required for the management of offers general practitioner services,” argues Ms.me Leclerc.
In a 2020 report, it noted that some 9% of doctors registered availability in the Rendez-vous santé Québec system, which makes it difficult to have a real portrait of the care of general practitioners.
Moreover, the VG concluded that “the MSSS did not have significant data on the effectiveness of incentive measures to improve access to family doctors” despite investments of $350 million in 2019.
In “continuity” of law 20
Bill 11 provides for changes to the Health Insurance Act to allow the disclosure of information “necessary for medical resource planning”. Imprecise and far too broad provisions in the eyes of the FMSQ and the College of Physicians, who participated in the parliamentary consultation on Tuesday.
Several doctors’ associations have expressed concern that access to this data will ultimately allow the imposition of coercive measures provided for in Bill 20 of the former Liberal Minister of Health, Gaétan Barrette. These penalties have never been applied.
The Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec, for its part, demanded the complete abandonment of Bill 11. According to the FMOQ, the legislative text is “an updated version of the distressing Bill 20”.
The Auditor General was categorical on this point: Bill 11 does not provide for penalties. Guylaine Leclerc nevertheless believes that it is indeed “a continuity” of Law 20, adopted by the Liberal government in 2015 and which aims to promote access to family medicine and specialized medicine services.
However, she notes that Bill 11 would specifically modify five provisions of Bill 20, four of which are not yet in force, concerning obtaining information from doctors and the use of appointment scheduling systems. -you. Consultations on the bill end Thursday.