The Auditor General of Québec issues the conclusions of her audit concerning the family medicine groups and network clinics - Press Release no. 5

QUÉBEC, May 27, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, Ms. Guylaine Leclerc makes public the report entitled Value-for-Money Audit (Spring 2015). In Chapter 5, she makes known the results from her work at notably at the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS).

The preferred referral mechanism to obtain a family physician, namely the guichets d'accès pour la clientele orpheline (waiting lists), is neither transparent nor fair. Certain patients who should be taken in charge within six months can spend years waiting. Aside from network clinic services, people who are waiting only have the emergency room as a place of care.

The departmental requirements related to the financial support that the audited agencies pay to the FMGs have done little to encourage physicians to take charge of additional patients, especially more vulnerable patients. The average number of patients registered with a physician in an FMG has increased by only 5.9% over the past 5 years; it went from 821 to 869 patients.

The MSSS does not require from FMGs that the scope of services be adjusted based on the volume and type of patients registered. It also has not set requirements for the extent and accessibility of services in FMGs.

The agencies allocate financial support to FMGs by essentially relying on the willingness of physicians to practice under this organization model. On the one hand, they do not consider the geographic sector and, on the other hand, the needs of the population as well as the proximity of first-line services are little considered.

The audited agencies and the CSSSs do not sufficiently supervise or monitor the activities carried out by the FMG clinical staff that they remunerate. The use of clinical staff skills could be optimized.

The MSSS and the audited agencies generally continue to fund FMGs even if they do not comply with the established criteria, including the number of registered patients and business hours. This causes inequity in the allocation of resources between the FMGs.

The Highlights are available at www.vgq.qc.ca. The full report is only available in French.

Source:

Lucie Roy, Director Cabinet, communications et affaires stratégiques Auditor General of Québec Tel.: [phone]

SOURCE Vérificateur Général du Québec

Lucie Roy, Director, Cabinet, communications et affaires stratégiques, Auditor General of Québec, Tel.: [phone]