Some 518 Ontario doctors received more than $1 million in fee-for-service payments from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan in 2017-18, a new Star database on physician billings shows.They are among 30,167 physicians whose names, medical specialties and OHIP payments are contained in the searchable database, which can be found on thestar.com. In total, Ontario’s doctors received $7.3 billion in fee-for-service payments from the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan.Click here to search The Star’s database of Ontario doctors’ billingsThe Star’s database shows that of those who billed more than $1 million, 158 were diagnostic radiologists, 96 were ophthalmologists, and 64 were cardiologists. Of 61 family doctors and general practitioners on the list, many work in pain clinics.Another 482 family doctors and general practitioners — many also practising pain medicine — billed between $500,000 and $1 million.Fee-for-service payments are not the same as take-home pay, because doctors pay for their own overhead expenses — staff salaries, offices, equipment and supplies — out of their OHIP billings.The database reveals big gaps in pay for different specialty groups. For example, ophthalmologists make on average $724,183 in fee-for-service payments while psychiatrists make $227,479.It also reveals big gaps in pay with specialty groups. For example, the 90th percentile pay for diagnostic radiologists is $1,096,541 while the median pay is $622,281.The database lists payments that doctors can claim for more than 7,000 publicly insured services contained in the OHIP schedule of benefits. Claims are made largely on the honour system.Some Ontario physicians are not included in the database because they are not paid on a fee-for-service basis. For example, some specialists who work in emergency departments, academic health science centres, long-term care homes and on-call in hospitals are paid fixed rates. Many family doctors work in ...
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