Ontario doctors opposed to new fee agreement delay vote on tentative 4-year deal

Doctors unhappy with a proposed new fee agreementbetween the Ontario Medical Association and the province have forceda delay in ratification, and will now get a direct vote on the deal.

The four-year agreement signed July 11 would increase Ontario's$11.5-billion physician services budget by 2.5 per cent a year, to$12.9 billion by 2020.

A non-binding vote by doctors across the province was scheduledto take place before anAug. 6meeting of the OMA's 275-membergoverning council.

The council would then have taken the results of the vote underadvisement as it decided whether to accept the new physicianservices agreement or reject it.

But byMonday, 3,000 physicians had signed a petition put forwardby opponents of the deal, including the group called ConcernedOntario Doctors, which held a protest march in Toronto last Fridayto denounce the fee agreement.

The petition said physicians were facing unreasonably tightdeadlines: two weeks to analyze the contract, one week for aprovince-wide vote and one day for OMA council members to meet,debate the contract and vote to ratify it or not.

"All communication by the OMA has aggressively endorsed theproposed contract, (but) they have not provided any materialanalyzing the down sides," it read.

"Members as such are asked to vote yes or no to a six-pagecontract that is devoid of necessary detail."

The OMA agreed to call off the referendum and instead hold a fullmembership meeting to discuss the agreement, with a vote by alldoctors present that will be binding on the association.

"In simple terms, this means that the vote that will occur aspart of the general meeting will provide a binding decision by OMAmembers on the tentative PSA," OMA president Dr. Virginia WalleysaidMondayin a statement.

The last time the OMA held a meeting of the 29,000 physicians itrepresents was in the 1980s, when Maple LeafGardens was rented forthe event.

"Physicians wait with bated breath to see the outcome of suchan extraordinary request: a membership meeting to get to the bottomof the truth about this particular PSA," said Dr. Kulvinder Gill ofConcerned Ontario Doctors.

"Seen rarely in business corporate structures, generalmembership meetings can herald a coup."

Concerned Ontario Doctors and others groups within the OMA saidfunding under the new deal is not adequate to meet growing demandsor to keep operating rooms and expensive diagnostic equipment fromsitting idle some of the time.

They were also angry that the OMA dropped a demand for bindingarbitration after going two years without an agreement, and afterseeing the Liberal government unilaterally impose fee cuts for someservices.

Walley said the government refused to budge on bindingarbitration, so the OMA agreed to the tentative deal to avoid anyfurther fee cuts while it fights in court for arbitration in futurefee disputes.

"It was and remains clear that the tentative PSA will provideour members with much-needed stability and predictability, and willensure doctors and the OMA have direct involvement in decisionsabout physician services," she said.

"That is in stark contrast to continued unilateral action andcuts to funding for physician services."

The OMA cancelled theAug. 6council meeting and said it does notyet have a date and time for the general meeting of doctors, whichwill include their vote on the new fee agreement.