Read on Twitter
Family doctors are seeing patients in person again & w/ COVID ongoing, they need masks & other PPE. But w/ lost revenue due to the pandemic & UCP's sweeping cuts & changes that's a big extra cost.
I asked the gov't about their lack of support for MDs & high prices for PPE #ableg
I asked the gov't about their lack of support for MDs & high prices for PPE #ableg
Note: @shandro gives himself credit for providing doctors w/ virtual codes. Here's how that actually went.
1st, as the pandemic began, he allowed docs to bill an old code from the SARS era that paid $20/call - half what they earn for in-person visits. #ableg
1st, as the pandemic began, he allowed docs to bill an old code from the SARS era that paid $20/call - half what they earn for in-person visits. #ableg
This was after he'd already torn up the provincial agreement with doctors & spent weeks claiming they were misusing billing codes, causing chaos, uncertainty & frustration across the system & forcing doctors to fight for their clinics' survival on multiple fronts. #ableg
Doctors were then forced to advocate for a billing code that paid the same as an in-person visit - something most other provinces already had in place - to be able to continue to employ staff & keep their doors open. #ableg
When it eventually arrived, it had restrictions that left many doctors still operating at a loss & a clear caveat that it would last only as long as the public health emergency remained in place. #ableg
Doctors noted this when @jkenney announced he'd allow the public health emergency to expire on June 15. They expressed concern the codes, though still needed, would be lost.
@shandro, despite the evidence in his own bulletin, took to Twitter to call them liars. #ableg
@shandro, despite the evidence in his own bulletin, took to Twitter to call them liars. #ableg
The Minister & his staff then scrambled to make an announcement the next day that the virtual codes would be made permanent, referencing a bulletin that...didn't actually exist yet.
The bulletin appeared in the days following, mysteriously backdated to June 9. #ableg
The bulletin appeared in the days following, mysteriously backdated to June 9. #ableg
