For the first time ever, the Toronto Star is revealing a comprehensive database of almost 200 of the highest-billing doctors in the province, cracking open a $12-billion-a-year system that for decades has operated behind closed doors.Seven years of Ministry of Health data identifies doctors whose annual billings to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan placed them in the Top 100 at least once between the fiscal years 2011-12 and 2017-18. That’s 194 of the 31,500 practising physicians in Ontario.The data paints a picture not only of who is billing the most, but also the types of treatments for which they are billing.The 35 million billing records were obtained by the Star after a series of Freedom-of-Information requests by health reporter Theresa Boyle, the first of which was filed five years ago in a push for greater transparency on how health-care dollars are spent. The data, drilled down to patient level with identifying information stripped out, includes such granular detail as doctors’ total billings per year, number of patient visits, fee codes and billings for top procedures by cost and quantity.The Star is publishing this searchable database online at thestar.com with a snapshot of the Top 100 rankings for the 2017-18 fiscal year appearing in the newspaper.For context, it’s important to remember doctors’ billings do not represent take-home pay as physicians also have often significant overhead expenses for such things as equipment, rent and staff salaries that they pay for out of those billings.Here is a guide to understanding the Star’s OHIP billing database.What are fee codes and how do they work? Ontario doctors are paid from OHIP in three main ways: patient-enrolment; alternative payment and fee-for-service. (Some doctors also have other sources of income.)Most doctors get at least some of their compensation through fee-for-service payments — more popular with specialists, less so with family doctors. This model accoun ...
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