Why we are closing

We are closing because our funding is no longer enough to allow us to stay open.    We are currently funded only $133 per patient per year.   The average salaried doctor's office is currently funded around $250 per patient per year. 

What happened?
It was always going to be difficult providing high-quality modern health care under the old 'fee-for-service' model.  We were only receiving half the funding per-patient per-year of a salaried doctor, so we never made a profit from fee-for-service. Initially we used the 'Patient Access' pilot which is open to all PEI doctors - this paid us a fee for taking on new patients. However, this was still not enough funding to attract a second doctor.

But we knew we were doing a lot of the right things. We cost less money than traditional practices per patient per year.  We were keeping people out of hospital with our prevention services.  And Health PEI had described our model when they described their ideal family practice. So we put together an offer of a pilot.  The Medical Society were supporting us, and Health PEI seemed very interested. It was quality care, a doctor for every islander,  it was going to cost less per patient per year, and it was going to save them money elsewhere as well. We were asking for $7 per patient per month extra funding to keep us open over the next six month until we could get the pilot set up.

We were very dissapointed when they said 'no'.



Could I have stayed on as a 'regular' doctor?
Yes, but it's not an attractive option.  I'd still have to lose all my staff (except say one receptionist and a half-time nurse).  I'd have to let go about 80% of my patients.  I'd have to lose some of the quality care we provided.  I'd have to give up my license as a doctor in the UK because the General Medical Council which regulates doctors in the UK would not accept working in the PEI health care system for my revalidation. I'd need to work two months each year back in Scotland to keep my skills in collaborative medicine and retain my license.

Download the press release announcing our closure.

Phoenix Medical Practice Budget Spreadsheet

Download a copy of our practice budget spreadsheet.

This complex spreadsheet contains the costs and projected income for various different possible set up.   It is saved as our current budget for 1 doctor with the province covering 50% of the nurse billing values, showing a loss of $55,000 per year.  Changing the number of doctors to 3 and the percentage of the nurse billing covered by the province to 100% will give our original business model which is what we based our pilot proposal on. Health PEI had one of their financial officers go through this spreadsheet and they met with us to discuss it. They agreed the figures were reasonably accurate.

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