At a time when up to 91 per cent of Alberta’s doctors are concerned about the financial viability of their practices, a local family clinic is taking a chance on a larger space while hoping to attract more staff.
In March or April, the Erin Ridge Medical Clinic will move from its current location on St. Albert Trail to a nearby spot at 75 Neil Ross Road that is almost three times larger. It will also undergo a name change and become the Erin Ridge Family Health Centre.
“I understand the risk in increasing my operating costs in a time where the health care system in Alberta is strained as it is, and with how expensive it is to run a clinic already,” said Leonard Ogbeide, the clinic’s business director.
However, he feels that the risk is a calculated one.
“I have a lot of faith that the government will pull through,” he said. “Not because of any blind faith, but just based on the changes that they've made and the discussions that they've been having, even though they haven't quite hit the mark with getting doctors properly reimbursed.”
One of those changes is allowing nurse practitioners to set up independent practices. The move also means that nurse practitioners can contribute to overhead costs at clinics, a potential advantage for the Erin Ridge Family Health Centre.
“We’re increasing the range of services that are covered by [Alberta Health Services] to allow employment by a wider range of medical providers, such as nurse practitioners,” he said.
With the new space, Ogbeide hopes to expand on the clinic’s somewhat unique approach to managing its patient load.
While patients at the clinic will have a designated primary care provider, Ogbeide envisions the clinic as a whole would be able to provide a variety of care to patients, rather than making patients wait for a long time to see their assigned family doctor.
A patient who has a sprained knee, for example, may get faster care stopping by the clinic to visit a nurse, whereas someone with a chronic condition, or who needs a physical exam, could still see their regular family doctor.
He hopes to attract nurses and specialists such as dietary counsellors, who might be a better fit to deal with patients’ particular needs.
“We would book you in with whoever is most appropriately trained to deal with your exact issue,” he said.
The approach would reduce wait times for patients and ease the heavy administrative burdens and patient loads currently facing primary care doctors, he said.
“Our biggest goal is improving access to care,” he said. “The more professionals we have working in a team setting, the better access to care will be.”
But ultimately, he said, “it will depend on how quickly I can recruit physicians.”
A survey released last week and commissioned by the Alberta Medical Association revealed that,of the 1,357 family doctors surveyed, 91 per cent are concerned about the financial viability of their practices, and 52 per cent are very concerned.
It also found that about one in five practices believe they are unlikely to be financially viable after six months, while 61 per cent of family doctors said they are considering leaving Alberta’s health care system and 38 per cent are considering early retirement.
Dr. Paul Parks, president of the Alberta Medical Association, said up to 60 or 70 per cent of what family doctors are billing for patients can wind up going to pay overhead costs such as staff wages and supplies.
“I'm getting letters from practices that once had 12 physicians in and now only have four and they can't pay their rent,” Parks said.
He said many doctors who aren’t leaving the province are finding alternative ways to make money.
“That’s the sad thing, physicians can make more money doing Botox injections … than they can doing comprehensive complex primary care for Albertans,” he said. “Or they can do things like close their comprehensive care practices and just do walk-ins and urgent care. And many are doing that because they just don't want the burden of trying to run a practice and managing the overhead.”
Expect clinics like the Erin Ridge Family Centre — clinics which employ family doctors alongside specialists, nurse practitioners, nurses and other health care workers such as psychologists — to be “the future” of primary care in Alberta, Parks said.
But he cautioned that nurse practitioners are unlikely to be the solution for Alberta’s primary care woes, simply because “it's not like there are hundreds of nurse practitioners out there ready to just work independently.”
“We have such a shortage, and all allied health care workers are scarce,” he said.
The only long-term solution to ease the shortage is a new funding model for primary care, one that provides family doctors with certainty around their income. That is something other provinces have already accomplished, he said.
In the interim, primary care doctors need a lump sum payment to help stabilize their practices, he said.
“We desperately needed that stabilization money yesterday.”
