Research by CBC/Radio-Canada reveals little progress on collecting dodgy payments

Research by CBC/Radio-Canada reveals little progress on collecting dodgy payments

Ontario’s Ministry of Health is doing little to crack down on doctors who improperly bill OHIP, according to information obtained by CBC/Radio-Canada.

A freedom of information request shows the province has recovered only $1.1 million in illegitimate billings over the past two years, while the auditor general pointed in her 2016 report to some $6 million in fees improperly paid to doctors.

“This is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, taxpayers’ money that was supposed to go to health,” said NDP health critic France Gélinas in an interview with CBC News.

Read more at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ohip-fraud-doctors-overbilling-ontario-1.4587901

Province ordered to release doctors’ names and OHIP billings

Province ordered to release doctors’ names and OHIP billings

Ontarians could soon be able to find out how much their doctors are billing the province’s health insurance plan annually.

An adjudicator with the province’s Information and Privacy Commission has ordered the government to disclose the names of doctors and the amounts they have billed the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

Read more online at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-doctors-ohip-billing-information-privacy-1.3615347

Fee cuts pushing #Ontario doctors to close methadone clinics

Fee cuts pushing #Ontario doctors to close methadone clinics

doctorsThe dispute between Ontario doctors and the province over billing rates is threatening access to methadone treatment, with two private Toronto clinics closing their doors and patients in some rural communities facing an uncertain future.

The threat to service follows a 1.3-per-cent rate reduction imposed by the province last month on all fee-for-service billings. The money-saving measures also included targeted reductions, among them a 50-per-cent cut to rates paid to doctors for urine tests that are done once a week or more frequently as part of methadone therapy used to treat heroin and other opioid addictions.

Now at least one Toronto doctor says the fee cut amounts to roughly 25 per cent of his total revenue and means his smaller clinics are losing money. First Nations leaders also are warning access in rural and Northern communities is in danger because private clinics – where most methadone treatment is given – are not as financially attractive. Others say this latest battle over money points to deeper problems with how methadone treatment is delivered in Ontario that go beyond the current billing battle.

Click here to read more.

Doc warns of longer waits for OHIP-funded procedures

Doc warns of longer waits for OHIP-funded procedures

Toronto dermatologist Ben Barankin is adamant that the cuts by Kathleen Wynne’s government to doctors’ service fees will create a huge impact on patients in the coming months.

Barankin, who has been in practice for 10 years, said staff will have to be let go, there will be longer wait times for OHIP-funded treatments and insisted the government’s moves are “pushing” specialists — like him — who also operate private clinics, closer towards a two-tiered system.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/10/18/doc-warns-of-longer-waits-for-ohip-funded-procedures