Dr. Justin French says recent comments by the province’s health minister about patients paying for eye cataract surgery may be causing some unwarranted confusion.
In an article published by the CBC Wednesday, Health and Community Services Minister John Haggie referred to the results of calls being made to a toll-free phone line announced by the provincial government Feb. 7.
The health department has asked anyone who has had eye cataract surgery at a facility outside of a hospital, or was told they could, to call the line to report the details. Anyone who has been asked to pay directly for a medical service covered by MCP, which a cataract surgery is covered by, was also urged to make the call.
Haggie was reported as saying some of the callers had indicated they had paid up to $4,000 per eye for cataract surgery and that some have been told the only way to avoid lengthy wait times for the surgery is to pay to have it done themselves, rather than wait and have it covered by MCP.
The minister was not available for an interview Wednesday, but the health department provided The Western Star with the most recent numbers.
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As of deadline Wednesday, the toll-free line had taken 460 calls. The department was able to return 146 of those calls and said 32 people indicated they had paid for surgery outside of a hospital setting.
Allowing patients to pay for procedures covered by MCP to bypass wait lists is illegal.
Haggie and the health department would not name who the alleged physicians involved in the possibly criminal activity are.
The results of the phone line being made public comes just as the province’s health department has rejected French’s plans to open a stand-alone eye surgery centre in Corner Brook.
French emphasized he is not the eye doctor who is being investigated and the criminal practice is not going on at his clinic.
“For people who are concerned that this is related to myself or anyone practicing on the west coast, it has never happened here and never would,” he said Wednesday. “It’s also written in my proposal that there would be no additional charges to patients for any services above what they currently pay at the hospital.”
French, who is considering giving up his practice in Corner Brook because his plan to improve wait times in western Newfoundland has been turned down by the province, noted that every patient in Newfoundland and Labrador who has cataract surgery does actually pay a fee to have a new lens inserted.
Western Health charges $100 per eye to cover the cost of the standard lens used in the procedures. Patients do have an option to upgrade to a better quality lens for better vision or less dependence on glasses.
Should they choose to do so, an upgraded lens could cost the patient anywhere from $900 to $2,000.
“That is considered elective lens upgrade and that is not an example of something a patient should not be paying,” said French. “That is the patient’s decision to upgrade their lens.”
French wondered if it’s possible some people have called the line to say they have paid money for a lens when, in fact, everyone does at some level.
“But if anyone has paid $4,000 per eye, then that is paying for more than the lens,” he said.
