Wouldn’t hiking FP pay solve a province’s primary care shortage?

Is paying family doctors more the “simple” solution for tackling the primary care shortage? I know money won’t solve everything.The administrative burdens will still be there. But hear me out. . . .Using Canada as an example: if a province just dramatically improved family physician reimbursement well beyond the other regions (to at least be competitive with most other specialties, would free market dynamics get the near-term results we need?It would mean:Family docs will continue to practice in that region (and not leave medicine)Family docs will move to that provinceMore residents will choose family medicine as reimbursement no longer a concern (and also move to that province)Other provinces forced to match to not lose family physiciansIt will cost lots of cash to start, but investment in primary care will get the return on investment from lower use of ER and hospital care. It would also buy time needed to re-engineer the rest of care delivery.One reason a province won’t do it is because a government works on a four-year election cycle and the return of investment may not show up fast enough, but with the right narrative a province might be able to pull it off.Crazy or someone should try this?Read: Dr. Joshua Liu: Will Alberta’s experiment of paying NPs 80% of FPs pay off?Canada vs. U.S.Meanwhile, things I hear in the U.S. but glad I never hear in Canadian healthcare:Huge, unexpected bills received by patientsHealth systems suing patientsPrior authorization/denial of care by insurersRevenue cycle managementThings I hear in the U.S. but wish I heard in Canadian healthcare:Digital/electronic communication with patients is standardHealthy competition to improve outcomes and patient experience between providers on the same streetIndividual providers actually knowing their quality metricsClinical departments/divisions have targets for improvementSurgical wait times are not an issueNeither health system is perfect. Each approach comes with its own trade-offs. What did I miss?Dr. Joshua Liu is a Toronto physician and the co-founder/CEO of SeamlessMD.

Wouldn’t hiking FP pay solve a province’s primary care shortage?

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