From torontosun.com
Alberta doctors have become the best paid in Canada, recording a gross average income of $365,765 last year that edged them ahead of counterparts in Ontario and Saskatchewan, new national statistics show.
The numbers come from the latest National Physician Database, an annual report complied by the Canadian Institute of Health Information, or CIHI, that tracks physician workforce trends.
Alberta doctors have typically ranked second or third highest in the database, but the 2014-15 fiscal year marks the first time they have claimed top spot in average gross earnings since the institute began publishing the statistic eight years ago.
The figure of $365,765 is a 3.2% increase from the previous year, well ahead of the 0.8% average hike across the country. It was enough to push Alberta physicians just ahead of their counterparts in Saskatchewan ($365,097), who saw their average gross payments climb 2.3%.
Ontario doctors, who had ranked as the top earners for the previous seven years, fell to third place ($363,841), after experiencing their third straight year of payment decline.
The Ontario government and its physicians are currently locked in a bitter dispute over compensation.
In Alberta, the provincial government and the Alberta Medical Association have begun negotiations to rein in the growth of spending on physicians. Health Minister Sarah Hoffman has targeted doctor pay as one of three major areas of the health system where the province must “bend the cost curve.”
The latest health institute database shows Alberta’s total clinical payments to its doctors last year reached $3.1 billion, an increase of 8.2% from the previous year. That was the largest jump among all Canadian provinces and territories, and also represented the first time Alberta surpassed the $3-billion mark.
This increase in total payments was not only a function of Alberta doctors earning more on average, but was also tied to the fact the province saw an substantial increase in the number of doctors.
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