Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned back in February of 2013, I asked then-Minister of Health and Social Services about the right to a second opinion. He mentioned that they were hiring a policy officer to review the health benefits. The review of a second opinion is within that review.
I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, what is the update on that review of the health benefits? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the Minister made his initial set of questions in 2013, we have hired a clinical advisor within the Department of Health and Social Services who is helping us to determine or quantify some of these results and questions in these areas. I just want to be clear to the Member, in some complex areas, medical diagnoses, some patients clearly would like to get a second opinion from another doctor. Doctors will respect a patient’s request, reasonable request, for a second opinion from a physician of the patient’s choice. This is consistent or is straight from the Canadian Medical Association Code of Ethics, paragraph 26.
NWT residents can also ask the doctor who’s given the original diagnoses for the name of another expert, someone with whom he or she is not actually associated with where the patient can go and get a second opinion.
I would just like to throw something out there for residents of the Northwest Territories, and that’s not to be worried about offending your doctor. They won’t be offended. They understand their obligations and they understand the importance of a second opinion, so please don’t be worried about offending the practitioners.
The cost of the visit itself for a second opinion is an insured service paid for by Health and Social Services. So the visit itself is covered. However, if a doctor for the second opinion is not located in the patient’s home community, the medical travel costs would not be covered or would, rather, be the responsibility of the patient itself. Depending on the outcome of that second opinion, some of the travel costs may be eligible for reimbursement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for that very comprehensive response to a second medical opinion. They’ve done a lot of work and I agree that residents shouldn’t be afraid to offend any medical practitioner or physician in seeking a second medical opinion. He did mention something and I was going to ask a question in terms of the lack of physicians in the Northwest Territories in some of the regions and the medical costs. He understands the situation we are in, where some of the regions don’t have physicians and we have locums who continue to come through.
Would he be looking at reviewing that medical travel for someone who needs a second medical opinion? I know Members on this side have all heard our constituents who have gone to the hospital and been given Tylenol or something and told to go back home and not to worry about it. Would the Minister look at reviewing that medical cost for people who need that second medical opinion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I indicated, depending on the outcomes of a second medical opinion, if an individual did have to travel to get that second medical opinion, we would be willing to explore covering some of the costs. I do hear the Member and I have heard other individuals express concern in this particular area. I can confirm that this topic is part of the medical travel modernization. This is a topic we are looking at as we modernize medical travel here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Some of our highest rates of health risks and health incidents are in the Northwest Territories and fall into the area of people who live in poverty, who live on income assistance and housing, who can’t afford to go to Yellowknife or Edmonton to get that second medical opinion. Some of them are even afraid to go to the hospital and will take their word as trust.
I’m asking the Minister if he would be willing to look at paying costs up front for individuals to have the right to go get the specialized medical diagnoses in areas that might provide those such as Edmonton, who I know we have contracts with. Will the Minister be looking at doing that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I’ve already indicated, our policy doesn’t currently do that, but we are willing to reimburse if a second opinion is determined to be necessary upon completion of the second opinion. I have already indicated it is part of the medical travel modernization and this is something we’re looking at. We need to make sure we are detailed on this assessment because not everyone needs a second medical opinion and we want to be careful about how far we put ourselves out there financially. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned in my Member’s statement, a person’s health and life is at stake when we go this route. I don’t think putting ourselves at a financial risk should be the indicator for seeking a second medical opinion. The policy in itself is a barrier for this second medical opinion. He mentioned, and he is going to say again when I ask again, that I’ve stated that it’s in our policy that we will reimburse upon return.
I am asking the Minister if he would look at reviewing that policy so we don’t reimburse upon return, but be able to support someone to go seek that second medical opinion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member is right; I’m going to say exactly the same thing again. We are doing medical travel modernization and we are including this as one of the areas that we are hoping to address, or intend to address for that program. Right now our policy is such that it allows us to do reimbursements where a second opinion is justified. But it could be that people may choose to go out for second opinions if they know their trip is going to be paid for when they don’t actually need a second opinion. So we need to be cautious. We can’t just say we’ll pay for everybody that wants to go anywhere for a second opinion. We encourage people to use the system that is at hand. We encourage people to work with their doctors and continue through normal processes.
But at the same time, if somebody is frustrated with the treatment they’re receiving or not convinced that the treatment they’re receiving is appropriate, I strongly encourage them to go to the quality assurance individuals and staff within each of the authorities. These quality assurance individuals can do a review of the situation, which actually allows us to get good feedback so that we can continually improve the system. So there are other mechanisms where people can express their frustrations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
