Doctors received much higher fees than nurses and pharmacists for administering COVID-19 vaccines, Ontario’s auditor general found.
“The Department of Health and the Ministry of the Attorney General failed to oversee fair and moderate payment processes for vaccine providers,” says the report, which was released Wednesday.
According to the Auditor General, doctors earned about $170 an hour to work at a mass vaccination clinic or an emergent cell clinic operated through a public gym or hospital, while nurses earned between $32 and $49 per hour.
Licensed nurses were paid even less.
Pharmacists were paid about $30 per hour of work at a mass vaccination clinic or public fitness clinic and between $43 and $57 an hour at a hospital.
“While the Ministry of Health informed us that it will pay doctors more than nurses because doctors are paid more, it had no research showing that this was fair given that all fitness professionals performed this task at vaccination sites,” the report said. .
The ministry also allowed doctors to be paid $220 per hour if they worked outdoors during their normal business hours Monday through Friday.
Despite evidence suggesting that encouraging vaccines among number one care staff would combat vaccine hesitancy, the report found that doctors had no incentive to dispense vaccines in their offices.
While doctors were paid between $170 and $220 an hour through the ministry to work at vaccination sites, the Auditor General found that doctors who worked outdoors in their offices earned $13 per dose.
This fee “was also intended to cover the general and administrative expenses of vaccination, such as personnel for the entry of knowledge. “
“More than 6,000 doctors billed the province at the hourly rate for COVID-19-related work, while just over 3,000 billed the province for in-office vaccines at the time,” the report says.
Hourly compensation paid to fitness care to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. (Report of the Auditor General)
The report found that the average doctor was paid $30,488 for jobs at a vaccination or screening center operated by a hospital. This amount has been reduced to $2,565 for doctors working in their own practices.
Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said it was a “surprise” to see the other rates, but refrained from saying whether or not it was appropriate.
“When we asked why there were differences in rates, the answer was that it related the user to their career in relation to the functionality of the job,” Lysyk told reporters on Wednesday.
“Could the money have been spent more at a lower price, potentially?I think we just highlighted this as factual information and it’s up to others to look at it and think about it in the future. “
A survey of 34 public gyms found that about 40 percent of idea doctors were overpaid for their jobs at mass vaccination clinics and that their work matched pay, according to the report.
It also found that nine public fitness sets reported that the lack of involvement of doctors and number one care offices is a major challenge in the vaccine rollout.
This is the first time nurses have faced pay gaps that make them feel undervalued and underpaid.
In May 2021, CTV News Toronto learned that doctors transferred to hospitals for extensive care due to COVID-19 outbreaks were being paid particularly more than nurses doing similar work.
Doctors who were reassigned by the pandemic won what’s known as “temporary physician investment” from the government, as part of an agreement between the province and the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
According to a diversity of salaries from an April 2020 note, a doctor was deployed for intensive care between 7 a. m. M. y earned $385 per hour, or $450 per hour for the shift until 7 a. m. m.
Someone at Ward Care may receive just $250 per hour from 7 a. m. to midnight, while non-clinical administrative tasks would receive the $165 award consistent with the hour.
A registered nurse working at an Ontario hospital with 25 years of experience, on the other hand, earned an hourly rate of $48. 53, regardless of where she worked, in April 2021. A nurse with five years of experience earned $40. 19 per hour.
The $48. 53 fee is just 48 cents more than a nurse with 25 years of experience earned in April 2020.
At the time, the WCO and the Ministry of Health stated that the transitory investment for doctors was based on the popular fee-for-service arrangement used through doctors and did not come with any specific COVID-19 incentives.
While nurses earned a transitional pandemic allowance, which gave some physical care staff members an additional $4 consistent with the hour for 16 weeks, the nurses’ overall salary was capped at 1% through Bill 124.
On Tuesday, a court struck down legislation limiting wage increases for maximum public-sector workers. An 80-page resolution found that the invoice violated the applicants’ rights to freedom of organization and collective bargaining.
Ontario has announced its intention to appeal the decision.