The OMA Section on Psychiatry emailed out the following statement. It’s unanimously approved.

I’ve attached the Tariff Analysis by Dr. Sonu Gaind. Dr. Gaind is the president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.

To: All members of the Section on Psychiatry
From: Your Section Executive
Subject: Section on Psychiatry tPSA Review and Advice to Members

OMA SECTION ON PSYCHIATRY – tPSA: REVIEW AND ADVICE TO MEMBERS

The Section on Psychiatry Executive has been following the developments regarding the tPSA for the past several weeks. Needless to say, this has been a time of much information, communication and opinion, as well as heated discussion.

Section Executive members have attended multiple meetings, read much material and spoken to key players in order to understand the advantages as well as risks of the tPSA. We met last week in order to formulate our advice to our members. Our advice focuses on the actual tPSA and its impact on Psychiatry.

• We also want to make a few other points clear:
• The process/communication from the OMA regarding the tPSA negotiations was, in our opinion, suboptimal. That has caused some unnecessary problems that have diverted focus on the actual tPSA.
• We have immense respect for the main negotiators from the OMA. They are experienced negotiators and speak credibly about what they did.
• We believe that at this time working with the OMA remains the best way forward. The OMA acknowledges that the tPSA is an imperfect agreement but the best that can be obtained today.

We see only modest benefit to Psychiatry at best, and want to highlight that the framework asks physicians to place a lot of trust in the government at a time of uncertainty. There are also risks in accepting the tPSA. It is a framework agreement and provides little tariff detail. It relies on goodwill and trust to a greater extent than many other agreements. It does provide some stability in funding (with several caveats). It includes co-management aspects that some welcome and others fear. It protects against unilateral action for four years but locks physicians in to a set overall physician funding envelope that is not guaranteed to adequately meet the cost of our provinces health needs.

With this in mind, the section executive strongly advises each and everyone to review available information about the proposed PSA. You will need to think carefully about your vote and what it means for you as an individual, as well as for physicians as a whole. The decision to vote yes or no to what is proposed will need to be made by you, but should be done in an informed way, looking at information available from both OMA, as well as from those who are actively opposed to the tPSA. We advise you to get a balanced perspective, talk to your colleagues, ask questions, and carefully consider your vote.

We have asked our Tariff Chair to provide a summary of a report he presented to the Executive last week. This is presented below. You will note that this is a comprehensive analysis of the agreement from a tariff perspective.

This having been said, your Section Executive has formed the unanimous opinion to refrain from endorsing the tPSA. Rather we ask all members to read the following analysis and carefully consider the pros and cons before making their individual decision.

The voting instructions were not clear. We are in the process of organizing which of your executive are attending the meeting on August 14 and will therefore be available to take your proxy vote if you wish and if required. We will be sending out another email in the next few days providing further instruction about this.

Information released today indicates suggests that all proxies cast thus far will need to be recast. It seems as if the vote will ask three questions.

• The OMA should not have the authority to negotiate without the inclusion of binding arbitration • The question of whether the tentative PSA should be ratified
• Future negotiations should require OMA Section Chairs to be fully apprised throughout.

Our next communication will address this breaking development as well.

If you have further questions please feel free to reach out to members of the Executive individually or direct email questions to Sonu Gaind (ksgaind@gmail.com) or myself (chaimow@mcmaster.ca).

Sincerely,

The Section on Psychiatry Executive

Gary Chaimowitz
Tom Hastings
Alison Freeland
Sharman Robertson
Brian Fishman
Sonu Gaind
Madhu Vallabheni
David Koczerginski
Richard O Reilly
David Gratzer
Rayuda Koka
Azaad Kassam

The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) administers the distribution of communications for its various Constituency Groups, and therefore the views and the opinions expressed in this communication may not reflect the views, policies, and opinions of the OMA. The OMA does not warrant the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the information contained in this communication, nor does it accept any responsibility for its contents.
tPSA Tariff Analysis.pdf