It's only fair: Reinstated good faith claims in Alberta will also be easier to submit

A new policy reinstating good faith claims in Alberta will make it possible—and easier—for physicians in the province to get paid for services provided to patients without an Alberta health card.While such claims in the past have accounted for only a tiny fraction of physician billing in the province, the implications of the new policy is meaningful for doctors and to the patients whose care would be covered under this billing, Dr. Paul Parks, president of the Alberta Medical Association, told the Medical Post.“It was really important to doctors to get this back for principles of justice and fairness—it was a reasonable thing that the government should be covering,” he said. “But the other piece is that a lot of these patients are really marginalized or homeless or they have mental health issues and they're really patients that are struggling.”In April 2020, the Alberta Health Ministry—under the leadership of former Health Minister Tyler Shandro—ended good faith billing, which had allowed doctors to get paid when they care for patients who don’t have a valid healthcare card.The change was part of a package of healthcare cuts brought in during the pandemic.Read: Alberta commits extra $200M for family doctors, finalizes $1B health deal with Ottawa“We've gone through a couple of years now where it's regular that we'll see people coming into our emergency department who actually needed to come in and get surgery or need to go to ICUs and the physician will spend a lot of time to care for them but they can't, in any way get paid or adequately compensated for the services they provide,” said Dr. Parks. “So it's excellent news that the minister (Adriana LaGrange) has reinstated (good faith claims).”Under the reintroduced policy, which takes effect on Feb. 6, 2024, doctors will be able to submit good faith claims through automated billing instead of having to submit claims manually as they did in the past.Physicians in all settings—from emergency departments to community clinics—are eligible to submit good faith claims. The new policy also covers retroactive claims dating as far back as April 1, 2022.“We’re not talking billions of dollars—this was about a fairness and justice principle, and that’s why it was really important,” said Dr. Parks. “And it was important to Albertans because we did not want Albertans who are homeless or suffering with mental illness or other kinds of difficulties to not get care because they didn’t have coverage.”Read: How changes to Alberta's health system may impact its doctors

It's only fair: Reinstated good faith claims in Alberta will also be easier to submit

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