From thestar.com
A specialist who charged the Ontario Health Insurance Plan a “staggering” $6.6 million last year is one of 500 doctors billing more than $1 million annually, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said Friday.
Hoskins is refusing to release the doctors’ names for privacy reasons, but is calling on the Ontario Medical Association to come back to the negotiating table to rework outdated fee codes that make it possible for some to snap up 10 per cent of the $11.6 billion budget for paying doctors.
“The current structure allows certain high-billing physicians to generate income many times the average doctor’s salary, which is due, in part, to the fact that the fee structure has not kept pace with medical and technological advances,” he said.
The top-billing doctor is an ophthalmologist – one of three specialties that take in the most cash, with 85 of the eye specialists billing more than $1 million last year, Hoskins said.
In top spot were diagnostic radiologists, 154 of whom billed $1 million or more. Another 57 cardiologists hit or surpassed the same threshold.
The top-billing diagnostic radiologist charged $5.1 million and the highest-billing anesthesiologist $3.8 million.
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