Physicians with a local medical clinic are voicing their support of a Kingston-based doctor who is being told to pay back the funds she received to cover the costs of a mass vaccination clinic during the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo via Canva.
Editor’s note: The following is a submitted letter from the doctors at a local medical clinic regarding the ongoing dispute between Kingston physician Dr. Elaine Ma and the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). The provincial health-care funding organization is directing Dr. Ma to pay back funds she received to cover the costs of a mass immunization clinic she organized, which took place in 2021 in a drive-thru setup. OHIP says it does not cover the costs associated with vaccines administered by medical students, nor those administered outside of a physician’s clinic.
To the Editor,
We are local family physicians at Greenwood Medical Centre and are writing to express our deep concern regarding the recent actions taken by the Ontario Ministry of Health towards Dr. Elaine Ma, a dedicated physician who played a pivotal role in the mass vaccination efforts against COVID-19 in our community.
Throughout the pandemic, Dr. Ma demonstrated extraordinary leadership and commitment to protecting the health of her patients and the broader community. When the province and the COVID-19 Task Force issued their instructions to “get it done and we will make it right later” regarding COVID-19 vaccinations, Dr. Ma did just that — she stepped up in an unparalleled way. Over the course of the pandemic, she was responsible for organizing and running mass vaccination clinics that successfully administered vaccines to approximately 35,000 people. This was no small feat, and Dr. Ma went above and beyond to make it happen.
Dr. Ma worked tirelessly to secure external venues such as stadiums and college parking lots, ensuring that enough space was available to administer vaccines quickly and safely, while maintaining physical distancing and adhering to pandemic precautions. She personally funded the costs required and took responsibility for the preparation of all syringes and vaccine doses. She also shouldered 100 per cent of the responsibility should something go wrong during these clinics.
It seems inconceivable that the Ministry of Health is attempting to claw back funds paid to Dr. Ma and other health-care providers for this work. OHIP is selectively applying interpretation of billing codes in a manner that seems inconsistent with the Employment Standards Act, creating an unnecessary and undue financial burden on physicians and health-care workers who did everything in their power to protect the people of Ontario. We believe this move unfairly punishes Dr. Ma and others who showed initiative and leadership in the face of an unprecedented health crisis.
This type of selective enforcement and interpretation of the byzantine OHIP Schedule of Benefits is not unique to Dr. Ma’s situation. For example, we often hear of surgeons around the province not being paid for half of their surgeries if more than one procedure was done at the time, despite submitting supporting documents. Community family physicians are routinely financially penalized by certain codes billed in hospitals by their patients who need admission. Pediatricians caring for newborns without health cards are sometimes not paid for their work despite viable solutions that exist in other provinces for this common issue. OHIP has been unable to “fix” these problems, despite advocacy by the Ontario Medical Association for years, but instead has invested its energy to avoid paying for the work done by Dr. Ma.
It is worth noting that Dr. Ma has provided the Ministry with a detailed record of the 35,000 individuals vaccinated at her sites, and has demonstrated that her efforts were both cost-effective and efficient. This should be applauded as a positive contribution to the province’s COVID-19 response. Instead, OHIP looks for a loophole to avoid paying for the work. One cannot help but wonder: If a large corporate entity had organized these clinics, would they be treated in the same manner? If OHIP decides that the vaccines given by these clinics were not billable to OHIP, should they then be considered private pay?
You may have noticed that there is less availability of community clinics providing flu and COVID vaccines this year, and fewer drive-thru clinics. We know how valuable these clinics have been for our patients in the past, but given OHIP’s recent actions, it seems too risky to offer this service.
This situation will also have downstream effects on the health-care plan for team-based care and medical education going forward. The physicians, trainees, and allied health-care professionals across Ontario answered the call to vaccinate our 14 million citizens during the pandemic. We worked selflessly and with professionalism to protect the public’s health. It is disheartening to see that a physician like Dr. Ma now faces these repercussions. We need to bring physicians to Ontario, not drive them away.
We call on the Government of Ontario to live up to its word and put an immediate end to these actions by the bureaucracy of OHIP against Dr. Ma. It is long past time for the Ministry of Health to recognize the extraordinary efforts of those who have contributed to Ontario’s pandemic response, and to ensure that they are treated fairly and with the respect they deserve.
Sincerely,
Dr. Justyna Nowak
Dr. Jennifer Hacking
Dr. Veronica Legnini
Greenwood Medical Centre
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Letter: Greenwood Medical Centre physicians voice concern over local doctor’s OHIP funding battle
