Christian Dubé, on May 8th, introduced a bill to encourage doctors to improve their skills at work. It involves giving them bonuses based on their productivity, with salaries tied to the number of patients they have. The health minister defended his decision by affirming that about 1.5 million Quebecers do not have a regular doctor or an assigned healthcare professional, which corresponds to 17% of the population. From that number, 590,000 are considered “vulnerable.”

Christian Dubé wants this law to be adopted by the national assembly because it could be beneficial for managing the demand for doctors, especially family doctors, as well as to align the supply and implement performance targets.

This law has generated a lot of reactions from doctors. Most of them are unhappy because they don’t think this law is the best way to encourage them to take on more patients, especially since it will push them to rush and not take good care of their patients. The need to see more patients would lead doctors to be “Less available to listen to each person and maybe miss a diagnosis from time to time,” affirmed Dr. Mauril Gaudreault, the president of the professional order.

Some people, especially those who have a family doctor, defended the doctors, saying they already work hard enough. They feel like making this law happen would put too much pressure on their shoulders.

François Legault congratulated his health minister for creating this bill because he affirmed he has been waiting for this moment for 23 years. He has always wanted the healthcare system to improve, so he was very pleased with this bill.

“In 2002, when I was Minister of Health, I opened the first family medicine group, and at that time I said that this was a first step—opening FMGs. The second step is to change the way we pay doctors.”