Jim Nicol of MRI Plus. (Photo by Etienne Ranger for the OBJ)

Medical access insurance 'could be tremendous' for Gatineau health industry, experts say

A new health-care insurance plan that sends Ontario residents waiting for public treatment to out-of-province private clinics is expected to give Gatineau's growing private health-care industry a boost, say local operators.

They say the policies provided by Calgary-based Acure Health Corp. – a private company that provides so-called 'medical access insurance' – will add to the already large proportion of their business paid for by insurance companies. It also comes as willingness among Ontario residents and physicians to talk about private health-care options has increased.

Acure recently signed up at least two licensed Ottawa insurance agents to sell their plans, which cover the cost of transportation and treatment costs for policyholders forced to wait more than 45 days for treatment in Ontario's public system.

Acure president Jim Viccars said Ontario regulations require his company to send its clients outside the province, and that Ottawa's proximity to Gatineau means policyholders in the nation's capital would likely be sent across the Ottawa River for treatment.

"We certainly would utilize the Quebec clinics and there are some excellent clinics in Quebec," said Mr. Viccars. "As we grow the program, and if it is accepted the way we hope it will be, then I think it will be a steady revenue stream for those clinics (in Gatineau)."

St-Joseph MRI chief executive Bryan Welch said patients at his Gatineau clinic are evenly split between Ontario and Quebec residents, adding he believes his facility stands to benefit if Acure's wait-list insurance catches on here.

Although he seemed unsure how popular the policy might become, Mr. Welch noted the provincial government "has not been doing very well with MRI wait times, especially in the Ottawa area."

Indeed, provincial data shows wait times for an MRI in Ottawa range from a low of 31 days at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario to 359 days at the Ottawa Hospital. The provincial target for an MRI scan is 28 days.

The president of another Gatineau MRI clinic, Jim Nicol of MRI Plus, said though he'd not heard of Acure's insurance policy, the concept "could be tremendous" for the diagnostic imaging industry in Quebec.

Already, about half of MRI Plus's clients have treatment costs covered by a third-party payer, such as a long-term disability company, Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), or the Quebec equivalent, the Commission de la sante et de la securite du travail.

In each of the last two years, Ontario's employer-financed workplace insurance program has spent about $800,000 annually on MRI and CT scans at private clinics, including out-of-province facilities, said WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott. She explained the WSIB pays for these scans in "exceptional" cases where a worker is unable to obtain the necessary service in Ontario, is in close proximity to an out-of-province location or has sustained an injury outside Ontario.

"Their goal is to get the person back to work as quickly as possible," said Mr. Nicol, adding more than four out of every five patients at his clinic come from Ontario.

Although Acure's wait list insurance program is still in its infancy in Ontario (it's been available in Western Canada for the past year), Mr. Nicol suggested its arrival coincides with a growing willingness among Ontario physicians to discuss private-pay options with their patients.

He said this is particularly relevant in diagnostic imaging when an individual needs to discern, for example, whether a headache is just that or symptomatic of a greater problem needing to be treated quickly. "When we can prove that the patient is suffering from a specific problem that will deteriorate as time goes on, the public system jumps in and responds immediately with the best treatment you can imagine," continued Mr. Nicol.

"But if it only goes into the system as a concern (such as a headache), then very little happens in a hurry," he said.

Mr. Nicol added his company is in discussions with a "major" owner of retirement residences about offering a thorough annual medical exam for seniors that would include appointments with chiropractors and physiotherapists, as well as diagnostic scans to look for the onset of dementia.

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