A four-year, $270 million agreement between the province and the organization that represents doctors will help ensure all New Brunswickers have a primary care provider and access to care within five days, according to Premier Susan Holt.The agreement includes compensation increases of up to 12.5 per cent over the four years, with the largest increases going to doctors who choose to work in a collaborative-care-clinic model, Holt told a news conference in Fredericton on Thursday.“By caring for the people who care for New Brunswickers, we are strengthening team-based family health care, improving access to services closer to home, and making our province a place where doctors want to build their careers.”The “transformative” deal, which members of the New Brunswick Medical Society have voted in favour of but have not yet signed, also includes accountability measures, Holt said. WATCH | ‘We’re now where we should be,’ medical society president says of new deal:N.B. doctors who opt into collaborative care will get larger pay boosts The New Brunswick Medical Society has reached a $270 million compensation agreement with the province that could motivate physicians to join collaborative care teams. “We are going to be measuring that New Brunswickers get access within five days,” she said. “We are going to be measuring and tracking patient attachment to make sure that you are finding a family health team and getting access to that primary care. “And we are going to be measuring the continuity of care across this team of professionals that will be serving you.”Asked what specific targets doctors will have to meet and what penalties they will face if they don’t, Holt told CBC News she could only address the targets the government has set for patient attachments.The goal is to have 81 per cent of New Brunswickers attached by the end of 2026, she said. “And this model that incentivizes attachment and that prioritizes attachment is one that will help us do that.”Already ‘bearing fruit’Health Minister Dr. John Dornan said the agreement focuses on “honey rather than vinegar.”It will make the province competitive nationally, helping with recruitment and retention, he said.”We were significantly behind — 15 per cent behind specialists in this country, 20 per cent behind primary care,” he said. “So now we’ve caught up.”And it’s already “bearing fruit,” Dornan said, pointing to the Noreen-Richard Health Centre in Fredericton, which has been short a family doctor “for a long while” and hanging on to a nurse practitioner “by a string.”Now, two physicians from Quebec are coming to visit this week, and two physicians from Western Canada are also interested, he said.Health Minister Dr. John Dornan said New Brunswick has seen a net increase of 84 physicians since October 2024 but “the work is not finished” and the province must remain competitive to recruit. (CBC)The agreement, which is retroactive to April and covers the roughly 2,000 doctors in the public health system, also includes investment in physician wellness as part of total remuneration packages, Dornan said.He cited enhanced parental leave benefits, a new coverage for pregnancy loss, and an increase in on-call rates as examples.Cost of $176M this fiscalThe deal will cost about $176 million this fiscal year, $12 million in the next year, $27 million the following year, and $39 million the year after that, Holt told CBC.The totals are “best estimates,” she said, because it will depend on the uptake of each of the three new compensation models for primary care — solo practice, team-based and collaborative care.The latest fiscal update showed a projected deficit of nearly $835 million and did not include the $176 million.Still, Holt said she believes the province has the third best net debt to GDP ratio per capita in the country. “So we are in a situation that we can manage that is responsible,” she said. “And we are making investments today to lower the cost tomorrow. This is something that governments have not done for decades.”Dornan noted the agreement will also come with some savings through reduced costly ER visits.”The best spent health-care dollar is to see people before they become ill, to give preventive care so they do not need to go to the emergency department,” he said.”This is our prescription for New Brunswickers.”Collaborative care co-ordination feeDr. Lise Babin, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, described the agreement as a “landmark investment” that will allow the province to “catch up and keep up with the rest of Canada” in terms of physician earnings.”We are pleased to set the stage for a deep transformation of primary care while still ensuring our payment models remain competitive, that we help stabilize our hospitals, increase technology adoption, reduce administrative burden for our physicians, invest in health and wellness and improve access to care in our rural communities,” she said.Under the agreement, every fee-for-service family physician will now receive a portion of their earnings through a capitation model, Babin said.That amount will vary based on the complexity of care “to ensure that no one just takes simpler, low-complexity patients,” she said.The solo-practice compensation model will allow doctors in private practice to continue with no obligation to join a team, she said. They will, however, be offered rewards if they increase their patient base or offer after-hour services.The agreement includes new monthly ‘performance’ reports that will show doctors how they compare to their their peers in providing access, said Dr. Lise Babin, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society. (David Donnelly/CBC)The second compensation model is designed for those who want to work as part of a group of primary-care providers but are reluctant to commit to the full collaborative care model, Babin said.They will get increased funding for their patients in exchange for regular reporting on their levels of access and other measures of patient care.”For the first time, we will be providing our physicians monthly reports on their performance to help them understand where they stand against their peers and support them in improving their practices and clinics,” she said.The third compensation model, for collaborative care clinics, will encourage the development of interdisciplinary teams that include nurses and other health professionals.The clinics will receive interdisciplinary care co-ordination fees of $15 per rostered patient, Holt said.The agreement also includes requirements for shared electronic medical records, cross coverage and co-ordinated care, she said. More details about the agreement are expected to be shared once it’s been signed, officials said.
New deal with N.B. doctors offers incentives for collaborative care, timely access, province says
