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The Alberta government and Alberta Medical Association have agreed to extend the existing fee structure until June 30 as the two parties work toward a new agreement.
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Health Minister Jason Copping and Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Michelle Warren issued a joint update Friday evening announcing the extension and continued negotiations.
“The Government of Alberta and the AMA are engaged in interest-based negotiations toward a provincial agreement for Alberta physicians. The parties continue to have productive discussions that reflect many common interests,” reads the update.
To allow “sufficient time” for discussion, the two sides have agreed to any pending changes to physician compensation rates or programs will be stopped until negotiations are finished. The update said the halt will apply to compensation for Alberta Health Services payments, including stipends, physician on-call and AHS overhead policy.
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Those who had arrangements to extend their AHS stipends to March 31 will now be extended to June 30 to facilitate the continued talks between the province and AMA, according to the update, which added AHS overhead would also be put on hold until June 30.
Copping has agreed not to implement any recommendations from the Physician Compensation Advisory Committee, an advisory to the minister, until June 30, aside from the virtual care codes.
In January, Copping and Warren issued an update and said they had agreed to work on “high priority health-care system issues that will support system stability” before returning to the negotiating table. The issues included addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying some changes to physician compensation and increasing access to virtual care.
“These actions, combined with those announced in January, demonstrate that both sides are continuing to rebuild the relationship and are willing and able to work together,” Copping and Warren said.