OHIP patients may lose access to eye care next month if optometrists take job action
Some residents could lose access to eye care services next month if a dispute between optometrists and the provincial government isn't soon resolved.
Starting Sept. 1, anyone whose eye exams are covered by OHIP - including children under 19, seniors 65-plus, and those with eligible medical conditions - will be turned away if the parties don't reach an agreement. At issue is government funding for eye exams, which the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO) says covers only half of the cost of providing the service.
It's at a critical breaking point," said Sheldon Salaba, OAO president and a Hamilton optometrist. The system is broken."
The OAO says it wants the government to commit to formal negotiations and to fronting full operation costs of their services to OHIP patients. The province says optometrists have rejected its offers for increased compensation. The association and province have now entered third-party mediation, but time is ticking to reach an agreement before patients are affected.
After the provincial budget came out in March, the OAO set a Sept. 1 deadline to reach an agreement or take action by withdrawing their services. If the parties don't settle by then, OHIP-insured patients will no longer have access to routine eye exams.
Even if they wanted to come and pay privately for the service ... we're not able to accept that," Salaba said, noting provincial law prevents optometrists from billing OHIP patients for the portion of the service that would usually be covered.
However, patients will still receive care for emergencies, added Salaba, who owns Advanced Vision Eyewear Boutique in Hamilton. Patients may be rerouted" to family doctors or other health-care practitioners for certain complaints.
We do have a duty of care to make sure that emergencies are managed in a way that nobody is harmed," Salaba said.
The OAO says in 1989, the province paid $39.15 for an eye exam. But now, Salaba said Ontario pays $44.65 per exam on average, depending on the type of patient. But Salaba said the actual operating costs of providing eye exams - including rent, staff, utilities, equipment, etc. - is in the $80-range," based on a third-party study the group commissioned.
The clinics that are providing the services are paying an equal amount as the government to provide the service," said Salaba, adding that about 70 per cent of patients optometrists see on average are covered by OHIP. We can't continue to pay."
And unlike other health-care providers, there's no requirement that the government meet with optometrists regularly for negotiations.
But the province says optometrists rejected its offers for increased compensation in December.
It is not reasonable or responsible for the government to agree to any financial demand without seeing the evidence to support such a demand," said a statement from Alexandra Hilkene, spokesperson for the minister of health, on Thursday.
Beginning last week, we formally restarted our efforts to engage in meaningful dialogue," the statement added.
Ontarians, and our seniors in particular, expect that the OAO and the Ministry of Health will do everything possible to come to a fair and reasonable conclusion."
Maria Iqbal is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator covering aging. Reach her via email: miqbal@thespec.com.