‘A cry from the heart’: Quebec doctors warn family clinics may close due to new salary law

Doctors across Quebec warn Bill 2 could force family medicine groups (GMFs) to close as early as April 1st.

Under the new law, planned funding cuts could make it challenging for clinics to cover basic operating costs like rent, staff salaries, and equipment.

“This 30 per cent reduction that’s planned for April is the end for us,” said Dr. Antoine Cloutier-Blais, a general practitioner at Clinique L’Agora.

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The clinic serves some of Montreal’s most vulnerable residents and doctors fear what will happen if the clinic shuts down.

“It’s a cry from the heart,” says Dr. Emmanuelle Huchet, the clinic’s medical director. “It’s the last words that we need to say to stop this law [and] make sure […] patients have access to good care.”

Clinique L’Agora is not the only clinic with an uncertain future. Several family medicine groups in Montreal’s west end are also sounding the alarm.

“This is a cry for help. This is not a threat. This is simply a financial reality,” said Dr. Michael Kalin, owner of GMF Santé Kildare.

Kalin wrote a letter to Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, president of the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, and Dr. Ariane Murray, medical director of the Département territorial de médecine familiale (DTMF) de Montréal, regarding the potential consequences of Bill 2 in connection with GMFs.

The letter states the GMF model is in danger of collapsing, and was signed by 20 doctors, many of whom run their own clinics.

Collectively, the doctors take care of more than 400,000 patients.

“I’m saying this in desperation that hopefully the Ministry of Health will recognize this and step in,” said Kalin.

“We can move past egos and hubris and do as actually best for our patients because if the GMFs close, the system collapses.”

The Quebec Health Ministry (MSSS) says that the GMF model works.

“Far from wanting to cut funding for GMFs, the MSSS is very supportive of this model, which promotes interdisciplinarity and collaboration among healthcare professionals,” ministry spokesperson Marie-Claude Lacasse said. “The government is investing significant amounts in funding GMFs and has no intention of stopping, quite the opposite.”

Lacasse said that the government will increase GMF program funding by $50 million on April 1 and another $50 million a year later.

She added that physicians in private clinics receive a 30 per cent office fee allowance to support clinic administration, in addition to funding for start-up, renovations, practice support and other operational expenses.

“Bill 2 provides that, in the future, this allowance will be paid directly to GMFs, in order to simplify administration and ensure that they receive all the necessary resources to function properly,” she said. “The government has publicly expressed its openness to suspending the implementation of this measure in view of negotiations with the medical federations. No funds have been cut.”