{"id":1276,"date":"2014-02-19T20:44:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/19\/quebec-diverting-medicare-dollars-to\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:41:18","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:41:18","slug":"quebec-diverting-medicare-dollars-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/02\/19\/quebec-diverting-medicare-dollars-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec diverting Medicare dollars to the regions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health Minister R\u00e9jean H\u00e9bert:<\/b><\/i>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a clinical directive. It\u2019s a budgetary directive.\u201d<\/b><\/i>
\n
<\/b>
\nBy Robert Frank<\/b>
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Health Minister R\u00e9gean H\u00e9bert plans to redistribute Medicare money to less populous centres, to accomplish the Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/i> government\u2019s drive to regionalize delivery of the province\u2019s health care services. <\/p>\n

Last month, The Suburban<\/i> broke the news that the province is pressuring Montreal hospitals to return patients to their home regions for treatment. Two weeks ago, Laval health officials told the newspaper that the first shift of patients will start April 1. <\/p>\n

Hebert pledged to preserve Quebecers\u2019 right to seek treatment anywhere they want. He acknowledged last week that to do otherwise would violate patients\u2019 rights under the province\u2019s health care act. However, the budget move will effectively render those rights irrelevant, as the province starves the urban hospitals of the funds that they need to continue delivering treatment.<\/p>\n

450 or die <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cOffering regionalized service will deliver services close to their home,\u201d H\u00e9bert said in a statement, in which he referred to \u201cfour historically underfunded regions: Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie, Lanaudi\u00e8re, the Laurentians and the Outaouais.\u201d <\/p>\n

H\u00e9bert has also issued a string of announcements promising to lavish taxpayer money on string of medical investments in the province\u2019s outlying regions. <\/p>\n

That splash could turn into a tsunami when tomorrow\u2019s provincial budget is tabled. <\/p>\n

The Minister justified the budget shift \u201cout of concern for greater interregional equity and to improve care and services outside [Quebec\u2019s] big cities.\u201d <\/p>\n

Laval health authorities told The Suburban<\/i> that dialysis treatment for kidney patients and surgery to remove cataracts from patients\u2019 eyes is slated to shift to the Cit\u00e9 de la sant\u00e9<\/i> superhospital in less than six weeks from now.<\/p>\n

Those patients are currently being treated at the McGill University Health Centre and the Centre hospitalier de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al. <\/i><\/p>\n

According to a document obtained by The Suburban,<\/i> pregnant women needing obstetric care, patients slated for day surgery and stable chronic disease sufferers were also supposed to be shipped back to their regions, April 1. <\/p>\n

However Laval health care authority spokeswoman Francine Gosselin told The Suburban<\/i> in an interview that the regionalization of those specialties has been postponed. <\/p>\n

Budget trumps clinicians <\/b><\/p>\n

The plan raised opposition ire after members of the National Assembly reconvened in Quebec City last week after their holiday break. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a clinical directive,\u201d H\u00e9bert said in the Quebec legislature, Feb. 12. \u201cIt\u2019s a budgetary directive.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMontreal hospitals have been told to expect to reduce their volume of patients,\u201d he continued, \u201cbecause those patients will be treated in Laval and the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThose budget cuts might stretch out over several years,\u201d H\u00e9bert suggested. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a sudden reduction.\u201d
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Health Minister R\u00e9jean H\u00e9bert: \u201cIt\u2019s not a clinical directive. It\u2019s a budgetary directive.\u201d By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Health Minister R\u00e9gean H\u00e9bert plans to redistribute Medicare money to less populous centres, to accomplish the Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois government\u2019s drive to regionalize delivery of the province\u2019s health care services. Last month, The Suburban broke the news that the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nQuebec diverting Medicare dollars to the regions - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/02\/19\/quebec-diverting-medicare-dollars-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quebec diverting Medicare dollars to the regions - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Health Minister R\u00e9jean H\u00e9bert: \u201cIt\u2019s not a clinical directive. It\u2019s a budgetary directive.\u201d By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Health Minister R\u00e9gean H\u00e9bert plans to redistribute Medicare money to less populous centres, to accomplish the Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois government\u2019s drive to regionalize delivery of the province\u2019s health care services. 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