Deal or no deal?
Posted Jul 2, 2011 8:50 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Three months of negotiations between Alberta Health Services and the province’s 6,500 doctors have proved fruitless.
The two parties have failed to reach agreement on a new contract before an agreed to negotiating deadline.
The frame work for a deal was reached back on March 31st. But last Thursday, the the Board of Directors for the Alberta Medical Association voted unanimously to reject the latest proposal from AHS which included a two-year freeze in fees and a cost-of-living increase in year three of the agreement.
AMA President Dr. Patrick White says the sticking points include improving primary care and taking the pressure off the acute care system.
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky says terms of the expired deal will remain in effect, and that means physicians will continue to be paid on their current fee schedule and there will be no loss to the public in medical services.
