Minister Lionel Carmant raises the tone towards private fertility clinics, which he accuses of “instrumentalizing families” by suspending their services “for a matter of money”. Meanwhile, the Association Infertility Quebec threatens to judicialize the conflict if it continues to get bogged down.
The Ovo, Fertilys and Procréa clinics, to which 70% of infertile Quebecers turn in the hope of starting a family, refuse the terms of the new state assisted procreation program.
Since the entry into force of the free service on November 15, they have in turn interrupted all the services covered by the RAMQ.
“This is unacceptable,” according to the Minister for Health and Social Services, who “refuses to allow patients to be taken hostage. “
Fertologists associated with these private clinics claim $ 7,600 per cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF), only for the so-called technical component. The government is offering them the amount that was in effect when the old assisted reproduction program ended in 2015, that is, $ 3,900.
“Yes, I am ready to put water in my wine,” said Minister Carmant. But clearly, I will never go to $ 8,000 per cycle. If I give double our ability to pay, in two years we’re going to be forced to close the program. “
The Minister believes that physicians who dispute the amounts reimbursed place more importance on their pecuniary interest than that of their patients.
“Even in the old cycle, their salary was much higher than general obstetrician-gynecologists,” maintains Lionel Carmant. “And obstetricians and gynecologists are already making a lot of money. “
With or without them
The government no longer hides its intention to bypass recalcitrant clinics. On Wednesday, on Twitter, Minister Carmant announced the granting of a license to practice IVF to OriginElle, a Montreal clinic that agrees to perform the procedure according to the terms of the program.
He does not intend to stop there if the dispute continues with other private fertility clinics. The Minister is already considering extending the offer of IVF in the public network, in particular to the CHU de Québec and the CHU de Sherbrooke. For now, only the MUHC and Sainte-Justine hospitals in Montreal offer the service.
“At 3,500 cycles per year, public hospitals could be sufficient,” believes Lionel Carmant. But given the size of the waiting lists and estimating that 7,000 patients would benefit from IVF in year 1 of the program, the minister said he “insisted that private clinics also be included in the program. of the RAMQ. “
Now, seeing that the clinics put on hold the family dream of Quebecers who were originally to benefit from the program, he calls on fertologists to commit themselves.
“What it takes [’ils] tell us, it’s “yes, I am in the program or not, I am not in the program”. They can offer treatments outside of RAMQ, I am not the one preventing them from doing that. The suspense they maintain is what causes unacceptable delays for families in Quebec. “
Several patients even go so far as to offer to pay the difference between the amount proposed by the government and the amount requested by fertologists. The minister assures us that the RAMQ law prevents a doctor who benefits from public coverage from demanding a lump sum.
Legal recourse
The Quebec Infertility Association has had enough. If nothing is resolved by Monday, its president ensures that she will go to court to force private fertility clinics to resume their services.
“This week, I had contact with a lawyer,” explains Céline Braun.
It intends to demand a safeguard order from the court so that the services covered by the RAMQ can resume. “If we have to go there, we’ll go there: I have no problem with that. “
Indignant that there are currently “from 1,000 to 1,300” interrupted fertilization cycles because of the dispute between the minister and fertologists, she says she is disgusted that patients are paying the price of the conflict.
Private clinics are forcing patients to interrupt their process by stopping services, says Ms. Braun. Meanwhile, on social networks, they ask them to become activists. What are they campaigning for? For their fertility process or for the money of medical specialists? »Asks the president of the Association Infertility Quebec.
The duty tried to speak to the Ovo, Procréa and Fertilys clinics. None agreed to comment publicly.