Stalled talks mean EMR funds may dry up for Alta. MDs
October 24, 2006 | Barbara Kermode-Scott

EDMONTON | Alberta physicians are increasingly frustrated regarding the lack of news about continued funding for the Physician Office System Program(POSP)in Alberta. POSP provides funding to doctors who computerize office systems.

POSP funding is on the negotiating table in Alberta Medical Association(AMA)negotiations with Alberta Health and Wellness and Alberta’s health regions for a new contract for 2006 to 2008. Alberta doctors have been waiting since April 1 for a new deal but negotiations are stalled.

Doctors are anxious on several counts. Physicians who were the first to enrol in the four-year program are concerned because their four-year contract with POSP has now expired and thus their funding has stopped. By later this fall about 1,000 physicians will no longer receive POSP funding.

Alberta physicians who were interested in joining POSP are holding off until they can be confident that there will be continued funding.

“While physicians recognize the value of electronic medical records to patient care, they are hard put to pay for them on top of dramatic increases in overhead expenses,” said AMA President Dr. Gerry Kiefer.

At the AMA Representative Forum in Edmonton in September members agreed that if POSP ceases to fund office computerization costs, the negotiating committee should recoup costs as part of the overhead component of fees in the schedule of medical benefits.

There has essentially been no progress on negotiations since the last forum meeting, pointed out Dr. Allan Garbutt of the section of rural medicine. Many rural physicians have lost POSP funding and are learning that electronic records are expensive to maintain, he reported. Information currently circulating suggests that any settlement is likely to be for only a few per cent, stated Dr. Garbutt. That is likely to be inadequate to even meet inflation. When many doctors are already severely squeezed, falling further behind is not an option, he suggested.

The potential for an end to the POSP funding, leaving physicians with expensive electronic medical records in need of evergreening, is a major concern and could jeopardize confidence in the AMA as a negotiating entity, suggested Dr. Ron Garnett, head of the section of general practice.