By Troy Gillard

90 days’ notice

Rocky doctors to give up hospital privileges over billing changes

Apr 20, 2020 | 8:33 PM

It potentially is a big blow to healthcare in Rocky Mountain House.

On Monday, doctors with the Rocky Medical Clinic gave 90 days’ notice to Alberta Health Services that they plan to resign their AHS privileges at the Rocky Mountain House Health Centre with the intent of keeping their own clinic open and staffed to the best of their ability.

The move is in response to changes implemented by the provincial government on March 31 to the way doctors in Alberta can bill for service.

“This loss leaves a huge hole in the ability for the remaining physicians to fully cover shifts in the Emergency Room (ER) and acute care,” the doctors acknowledge in a Facebook post. “Unfortunately, we anticipate a further cascading effect of loss of services in the future.”

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“As physicians, we have to take a look at where can we provide the biggest bang for our group, depending on how many are left,” explains Dr. Ed Aasman, one of the clinic’s physicians. “If we’re not careful, we’re just going to burn ourselves out and really be short.”

Aasman assures those in the Rocky Mountain House area that any drastic changes won’t happen until the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.

The announcement by Rocky Medical Clinic came on the same day results from a survey by the Alberta Rural Sustainability Group revealed doctors in at least 44 Alberta communities will be making changes to some of their services. That includes Sundre, Stettler and Lac la Biche where doctors have already announced they will be withdrawing emergency and obstetric services in hospitals.

Aasman, who is president of the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) Section of Rural Medicine, suggests honest and sincere negotiations between the province and the AMA are needed in order to prevent a crisis.

“I really think the government needs to understand the fact that it’s not just about dollars and cents, but it’s about how we use the dollars, where they’re used and what we as physicians can do to help manage that,” he says. “What the communities can do, and their part, and what we as individual patients can do to make sure we’re doing the best for our own health so we’re not straining the system.”