The provincial government plans to improve oversight of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, Health Minister Christine Elliott says.To be unveiled Wednesday as part of the fall economic statement, the OHIP overhaul would see proactive disclosure of physician billings and tougher audits, she told the Star in an exclusive interview Friday.“It’s a lot of money that we are talking about and we owe it to the taxpayers of Ontario to ensure that those tax dollars are spent properly. We want to make sure that we have a system that is completely reliable and is going to be there for the people of Ontario whenever they need it,” she said.The province spends $16 billion annually on OHIP. That amounts to 25 per cent of all health-care spending and about 10 per cent of the entire provincial budget.From that, more than $12 billion goes into the physician services budget. The remainder pays for, among other things, out-of-country patient care, Telehealth, diagnostic clinics, and OHIP-funded dental surgeons and optometrists.The new measures would see physician-identified OHIP payments posted online annually, much like the Sunshine List of public sector workers who make $100,000 and more. OHIP payments are not the equivalent of income as they do not take into account overhead expenses such as staff salaries and supplies.Elliott said she expects that enabling legislation will be introduced early next year. If it is passed, billings could start to be posted in 2020-21.“That is something the people of Ontario want to know about, they want to know where their health dollars are being spent and they want to make sure that they know who is receiving what. There is a lot of interest on the part of the public to have a health-care system that is open and transparent. Physicians’ billings are part of that,” she said.The package of reforms is intended to give the government greater authority to prevent, investigate and direct recovery of unauthorized paym ...
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