B.C. doctors say pay boost for IUD insertions will reduce patient pain, waitlists
Women’s health physicians in B.C. say patients are receiving better care due to compensation changes around intrauterine device insertions.
The health ministry said it’s paying doctors more to insert IUDs, increasing the fee from $46.79 to $55.22. On top of that, doctors can now bill the province $25 when they use a cervical anaesthetic, which makes the procedure less painful.
“I was really happy because it meant that I can have more ability to hire more doctors and therefore offer more spots to patients in the community and decrease our waitlists,” said Dr. Renée Hall, co-medical director at Willow Clinic in Vancouver.
Hall said she has hired four physicians since the new fees were introduced on Dec. 1, 2023.
In a CTV News story published in November, Hall and Nanaimo physician Dr. Ana Armas Enriquez said some doctors don’t offer the cervical anaesthetic to patients due to the cost.
“We should all be offered the opportunity to have a cervical block and reduce the pain by 70 to 80 per cent,” said Armas Enriquez, director of Women’s Vita Medical Clinic.
“No longer do we have to donate that money to do it.”
The health ministry made the changes a few weeks after CTV’s story aired, but doctors had been advocating for compensation changes well before that.
“IUD providers around the province sent letters to BC Family Doctors saying, ‘It’s really difficult for us to cover costs for IUD insertions,’" Hall said.
BC Family Doctors and the province listened.
“Having that opportunity to have a voice when decisions are being made around women’s health and what might be best and what might be useful for those of us practising in women’s health is a really good step in the right direction,” Hall said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.