(no subject)
Private Cancer Clinic in Works
Private cancer clinic in works
Each doctor to have only 50 patients
$2,500 fee, $250 a week to manage case
ELAINE CAREY
MEDICAL REPORTER
A Toronto businessman plans to open a private cancer clinic to provide patients with the "best possible care" he says they're not getting from the public health system.
For a $2,500 initial fee and an ongoing $250 a week, cancer patients will get 24-hour access to a physician plus a hand-held computer fitted with all their medical records and access to other professionals.
Alan Smithson hopes to have the first private cancer clinic in Canada up and running by September within two minutes of the Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre on Bayview Ave., which treats 230,000 people a year, he said in an interview.
The clinic will combine public and private services in the increasingly murky area of so-called "two-tier medicine."
OHIP will pay for visits with the doctor who will limit his practice to 50 cancer patients. It will also cover a consultation with an oncologist for a second opinion on their diagnosis and treatment and any tests needed.
The fees will cover other services such as visits with a dietitian and a naturopathic doctor to discuss alternative treatments. If a patient needs a PET scan, an MRI or an alternative treatment not available here, the clinic will find it and the patient will pay for it.
The centre will provide the kind of case management that critics say is missing from the health care system and is usually provided by relatives. While the service is needed, under Smithson's system it will only be available to those who can afford it.
"The concept is to provide the best possible care for these patients and unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily happen with OHIP," he said.
With a ratio of 50 patients to one doctor, "very little gets missed," he said. "With a ratio of 2,500 or 3,000 to one doctor, things do get missed.
Smithson says he plans to get two legal opinions on whether the clinic violates the Canada Health Act "but we've done all the research and it seems like there's not really anything the Ministry of Health can do to stop it," he said. The ministry has not responded to a letter he wrote outlining the plan.
Private clinics are not prohibited under the Canada Health Act provided they are not charging for services covered by OHIP.
Dan Strasbourg, a ministry spokesman, said it was difficult to comment on whether the clinic violates the act "without knowing what specific services would be charged for. There are a lot of unanswered questions."
But Terry Sullivan, president of Cancer Care Ontario, which oversees the province's cancer treatment services, said if patients are paying to get access to a physician, it does violate the act.
"Charging money to get a doctor's time so he can bill OHIP to see you is not kosher," he said. "If doctors want to accept payment for that, they have to be out of the system."
Sullivan said he couldn't understand what services the clinic would be offering that would justify the fees being charged, since any medically necessary treatments are paid for by OHIP.
"This is where the grey area stuff comes in," he said. "I just don't understand what patients are paying for."
Once the centre is up and running, Smithson said he plans to set up other Cancer Centres of Canada near cancer treatment hospitals in the GTA.
Oncologists "can focus on their specialty instead of acting like a family doctor as well. We're doing what a family physician should be doing but unfortunately, they're under-resourced to do."
The recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that said denying patients the timely treatment they need is unconstitutional will lead to a proliferation of such private centres, he predicted
It hasn't happened yet because of doctors' fears of ramifications from the health ministry, said Smithson, president of the Smithsonian Group Inc., a company he formed a year ago to help doctors charge annual "block fees" to patients for uninsured medical services.
While he concedes the clinic is offering two-tier medicine, that already exists in Ontario, he said. "Right now, patients who have money can get better care if they go to the U.S."
Dr. Akbar Khan, who runs a Scarborough palliative care clinic, plans to give up his practice to be the first physician in the cancer clinic because he says the current system is too stretched to meet the needs of cancer patients.
"Some get timely care, some don't," he said. "We want to integrate all services so there is one point of access where a patient can come in and say, `Okay doctor, optimize my therapy.'"
His palliative care clinic used to have five doctors but two have left and he's been unable to recruit more, he said. "Every time I want to do things better, I'm limited by OHIP fees.
"The crux of the issue is OHIP really struggles when it tries to achieve higher levels of care," he said.
While Kahn will charge OHIP for his services, he will also be paid by the clinic as a consultant for developing new ways of patient care, he said.
I'm mostly interested in Canadian opinions, as this affects Canadians primarily, however if your american or English, or whichever, please feel free to comment as well.
I'm completely against this, as it seems really unfair. I mean, yey for excellent care, but that money could be put toward better things. Also, it seems grossly unfair to people who don't have $2500 + $250 a week.
anyway, your opinions please.
Private cancer clinic in works
Each doctor to have only 50 patients
$2,500 fee, $250 a week to manage case
ELAINE CAREY
MEDICAL REPORTER
A Toronto businessman plans to open a private cancer clinic to provide patients with the "best possible care" he says they're not getting from the public health system.
For a $2,500 initial fee and an ongoing $250 a week, cancer patients will get 24-hour access to a physician plus a hand-held computer fitted with all their medical records and access to other professionals.
Alan Smithson hopes to have the first private cancer clinic in Canada up and running by September within two minutes of the Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre on Bayview Ave., which treats 230,000 people a year, he said in an interview.
The clinic will combine public and private services in the increasingly murky area of so-called "two-tier medicine."
OHIP will pay for visits with the doctor who will limit his practice to 50 cancer patients. It will also cover a consultation with an oncologist for a second opinion on their diagnosis and treatment and any tests needed.
The fees will cover other services such as visits with a dietitian and a naturopathic doctor to discuss alternative treatments. If a patient needs a PET scan, an MRI or an alternative treatment not available here, the clinic will find it and the patient will pay for it.
The centre will provide the kind of case management that critics say is missing from the health care system and is usually provided by relatives. While the service is needed, under Smithson's system it will only be available to those who can afford it.
"The concept is to provide the best possible care for these patients and unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily happen with OHIP," he said.
With a ratio of 50 patients to one doctor, "very little gets missed," he said. "With a ratio of 2,500 or 3,000 to one doctor, things do get missed.
Smithson says he plans to get two legal opinions on whether the clinic violates the Canada Health Act "but we've done all the research and it seems like there's not really anything the Ministry of Health can do to stop it," he said. The ministry has not responded to a letter he wrote outlining the plan.
Private clinics are not prohibited under the Canada Health Act provided they are not charging for services covered by OHIP.
Dan Strasbourg, a ministry spokesman, said it was difficult to comment on whether the clinic violates the act "without knowing what specific services would be charged for. There are a lot of unanswered questions."
But Terry Sullivan, president of Cancer Care Ontario, which oversees the province's cancer treatment services, said if patients are paying to get access to a physician, it does violate the act.
"Charging money to get a doctor's time so he can bill OHIP to see you is not kosher," he said. "If doctors want to accept payment for that, they have to be out of the system."
Sullivan said he couldn't understand what services the clinic would be offering that would justify the fees being charged, since any medically necessary treatments are paid for by OHIP.
"This is where the grey area stuff comes in," he said. "I just don't understand what patients are paying for."
Once the centre is up and running, Smithson said he plans to set up other Cancer Centres of Canada near cancer treatment hospitals in the GTA.
Oncologists "can focus on their specialty instead of acting like a family doctor as well. We're doing what a family physician should be doing but unfortunately, they're under-resourced to do."
The recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that said denying patients the timely treatment they need is unconstitutional will lead to a proliferation of such private centres, he predicted
It hasn't happened yet because of doctors' fears of ramifications from the health ministry, said Smithson, president of the Smithsonian Group Inc., a company he formed a year ago to help doctors charge annual "block fees" to patients for uninsured medical services.
While he concedes the clinic is offering two-tier medicine, that already exists in Ontario, he said. "Right now, patients who have money can get better care if they go to the U.S."
Dr. Akbar Khan, who runs a Scarborough palliative care clinic, plans to give up his practice to be the first physician in the cancer clinic because he says the current system is too stretched to meet the needs of cancer patients.
"Some get timely care, some don't," he said. "We want to integrate all services so there is one point of access where a patient can come in and say, `Okay doctor, optimize my therapy.'"
His palliative care clinic used to have five doctors but two have left and he's been unable to recruit more, he said. "Every time I want to do things better, I'm limited by OHIP fees.
"The crux of the issue is OHIP really struggles when it tries to achieve higher levels of care," he said.
While Kahn will charge OHIP for his services, he will also be paid by the clinic as a consultant for developing new ways of patient care, he said.
I'm mostly interested in Canadian opinions, as this affects Canadians primarily, however if your american or English, or whichever, please feel free to comment as well.
I'm completely against this, as it seems really unfair. I mean, yey for excellent care, but that money could be put toward better things. Also, it seems grossly unfair to people who don't have $2500 + $250 a week.
anyway, your opinions please.