Family physicians should stop performing medical assessments for the homologation of a protection mandate, better known by its former name of incapacity mandate.
This is what the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) has been recommending to its members since Tuesday. The union thus wishes to put an end to an “inequity” between patients.
Quebecers are indeed not all equal when it comes to obtaining a medical evaluation to have a protection mandate homologated. This medical assessment service is covered by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) when it is carried out by medical specialists. The fee for this act is $633 in the case of tutorship, curatorship or homologation of a mandate.
The situation is quite different for family physicians. The latter receive compensation of $483.75 for a medical assessment relating to tutorship or curatorship. Remuneration is however nil in the event of homologation of a protection mandate.
Until Tuesday, the FMOQ suggested that its members bill the patient $480 for the medical evaluation intended for the homologation of a mandate. She hoped that the government would accept that its members should also be paid by the RAMQ. Discussions on this issue, which began two years ago, have not been successful, according to its president, Dr.r Marc-Andre Amyot. He denounces the “inertia of officials”.
“The government does not want to settle this! said the Dr Amyot. It is not correct to ask the patients of family doctors to pay a sum of money, whereas with specialists it is covered. »
In a message sent to its members on Tuesday, the president of the FMOQ recommended that family physicians refer patients who need a medical evaluation for homologation of mandate to medical specialists. “I didn’t make that decision lightly,” he said. It’s not to optimize the network. It’s not to improve access. »
The Dr Amyot believes that this service should be free for all patients and that the government should remunerate family doctors for this act.
Questioned on this subject, the Ministry of Health and Social Services had not answered the questions of the Duty at the time these lines were written.