Tyler Shandro, Minister of Health is sworn into office, in Edmonton on Tuesday April 30, 2019. The province will continue to subsidize the medical liability insurance required by doctors to practice in high-risk areas like obstetrics.The Canadian Press
In response to announcements by rural doctors that they will be leaving their practices, the Alberta government is making concessions on how rural physicians are compensated.
Under the changes announced by Health Minister Tyler Shandro, the province will continue to subsidize the medical liability insurance required by doctors to practice in high-risk areas like obstetrics, meaning they will only have to pay $1,000 a year, and increase rural on-call rates from $20 per hour to $23 per hour. On-call rates for rural physicians with special skills will increase from $11 to $20 an hour.
Another change prevented rural physicians from billing for overhead costs when they are working in a hospital. Shandro said that change is being put on hold for urban physicians and abolished for their rural counterparts.
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