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Friday, June 14, 2013

Has Anything Changed In Doctors' Dispute?

A Court of Queens Bench Justice has concluded the Medical Society does have a legal and binding fee agreement with the provincial government until March of 2014 but the controversial issue of a cap in medicare payments to doctors is still up in the air.
     

Judge Judy Clendenning says the application to the court was only for a declaration on the agreement so the cap, itself, was not an issue for her to decide because she wasn't asked to.
     

Provincial Health Minister Ted Flemming maintains nothing has changed and the cap will remain in place. Medicare billings were below budget during the first quarter.
     

The President of the Medical Society, Dr. Robert Desjardins says his group offered to drop the court case last week if the government would sign a court order acknowledging their agreement was binding but that offer was rejected.