Family doctors vote overwhelmingly in favour of agreement with Quebec

Quebec’s family doctors have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an agreement that will incentivize them to take on an additional 500,000 patients by next June.

The vote on Friday comes after a lengthy negotiation between the doctors and the Coalition Avenir Québec goverment, who had pushed through controversial legislation, known as Bill 2, that would have, among other things, tied part of doctors’ pay to performance indicators.

The law sparked backlash from doctors with many family physicians and clinics threatening to close entirely if the legislation was not amended.

Earlier this month, Premier François Legault stepped in to negotiate with the doctors' union, reaching a tentative agreement that rolled back many of the major measures in Bill 2.

The new deal eliminated a contentious plan to assign patients on a colour-coded system based on their level of vulnerability, and removed all articles in the legislation that would have penalized doctors for not following the reforms.

The deal also removed the obligation for family doctor groups, known in French as GMFs, to take on the province’s estimated 1.2 million orphaned patients by January 2027. Instead, the deal says the doctors will take on 500,000 new patients by June, on a voluntary basis, and will receive more money if that goal is reached, but won't face penalties if those goals aren't reached.

Deal is a 'win-win,' minister says

France-Élaine Duranceau, Quebec’s treasury board president, hailed the deal as a “win-win” agreement.

“We have 500,000 more Quebecers who will be taken in by GPs. That’s good news,” she said.

Duranceau said 200,000 of those 500,000 patients are slated as “vulnerable people” who tend to have to go to emergency rooms to receive care.

The union that represents family doctors, the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), said in a statement that the agreement is a “clear commitment to transforming front-line care.”

“Among other things, the agreement will change the remuneration model, improve funding for telemedicine, and stabilize clinics that depend on the GMF program,” the statement said.

“Family physicians will be able to continue practising high-quality family medicine and focus on what they do best: caring for patients in Quebec.”

Christian Dubé, Quebec's long-serving health minister, resigned on Thursday, saying the government backtracked on too many of Bill 2's measures. He said the current deal is more of the "status quo."