QMA delegation adopts motion to modernize physician-network relationship

Physicians must take on a greater role and become accountable partners in management of the healthcare system.

To achieve this goal, the professional relationship between physicians and the healthcare system needs to be modernized, since the network remains at a standstill despite successive reforms. The reason? One significant obstacle: Most doctors in Canada are self-employed, and practising within a public health network.

"This status protects the physician's professional autonomy when dealing with the payment officer. Granted, the patient's well-being is at stake, but medicine has evolved and is more complex today, and we are no longer able to achieve progress in the healthcare system because of the resistance to adoption of progressive measures on the part of some physicians, who are fearful of losing their autonomy," asserted Dr. Jean-François Lajoie, President of the Québec Medical Association.

"An important step in changing this situation, however, has now been accomplished. The QMA delegation to the Canadian Medical Association's General Council - a delegation comprised of some 20 Quebec-based physicians - had a motion adopted, whereby a working group would be created and mandated with studying how the professional relationship between physician and network could be updated. This motion, steered by my colleague Dr. Pierre Harvey, was endorsed by 85% of participants who share the QMA's conviction that modernizing the professional relationship will increase doctors' ability to act, by granting them a larger role as accountable partners in managing the organization," added Dr. Lajoie.

Moreover, the QMA - which regularly organizes events focusing on innovative medical practices - intends to actively participate in this committee's work. Over the years, the QMA has called on internationally renowned organizations, such as Kaiser Permanente, to identify paths that will enable physicians to provide their patients with quality care and derive real satisfaction from their work.