The Quebec government plans to table a bill to prohibit insurance companies and benefit plan administrators from requiring a medical prescription for reimbursement of a technical aid, such as a cane or support stockings. He also wants to reduce the number of doctor visits imposed by private insurers on people with disability benefits. Quebec estimates that it can recover 500,000 medical appointments per year, thereby reducing the burden on doctors.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, and the Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, confirmed their intentions in a press scrum at the National Assembly on Wednesday. “Above all, we want to avoid abuse and reduce paperwork,” said Jean Boulet. The goal is to improve access [à un médecin de famille] “.
According to him, “all the time” visits to the doctor are not necessary for a burnout person receiving disability benefits. “Someone who has a fracture and the doctor tells them “it won’t be healed for two months or three months” should not be asked to go and see the doctor again in two weeks or every three weeks,” said he added.
“Paperwork” takes up approximately 25% of family doctors’ time. To reduce it, the government announced in February that doctors will no longer have to complete a form for requests for long-term care accommodation, a document already completed by a social worker or physiotherapist. From now on, doctors will determine themselves when a follow-up appointment must be made with patients compensated by the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST).
In a press scrum on Wednesday, Jean Boulet repeated that “the frequency and relevance” of medical consultations for insured persons will be a matter of “the clinical judgment of doctors”.
Thanks to this measure, Christian Dubé calculates that 500,000 additional medical appointments could be offered to the population. “There are approximately 4 million Quebecers who have a private insurer,” he said. There are already 90% of insurance companies that do not require these appointments. Put 10% of 4 million, you already have 400,000 appointments once a year for this kind of thing. And that doesn’t include instruments, canes, etc. »
Asked about the possible increase in insurance premiums in reaction to this measure, Jean Boulet replied that he “could not give a guarantee” to policyholders that there would be no increase. “Is it possible that there will be an impact? I am not in a position to evaluate,” he said, specifying that insurance companies were consulted for this future bill.
Doctors’ reactions
According to the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ), ending the requirement for “certain medical notes by insurance companies is a step in the right direction.” “However, the government should take a further step by notably and clearly prohibiting insurance companies from requiring medical notes for absences of less than 5 days,” writes the union on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The FMOQ also says it “questions” “the 500,000 appointments allegedly freed up by this measure”. “This figure seems exaggerated to us at first glance and we are waiting for the minister to explain his methodology,” adds the Federation.
In the press scrum on Wednesday, Minister Christian Dubé was delighted to be able to eliminate unnecessary appointments. But he indicated that it was also necessary to work on the “offer” of consultations by doctors. The minister will have access to their data from May 23, the date Bill 11 comes into force.