Ontario government plans to recoup COVID-19 loans to province's doctors

Province laid out plans to recoup money in memo issued to Ontario Medical Association on Friday. Ontario doctors who received loans from the province during the Covid-19 pandemic in order to cover increased costs and offset revenue losses stemming from lower patient volumes will now have one year to pay those sums back.

The province said it is "critical" to recover more than $521 million in outstanding loan payments from the Covid-19 Advance Payment Program in order to fund other priorities. The combination of low Covid-19 infection rates and strong Vaccine uptake throughout the province suggests the time is right to "transition to a post-pandemic state," it added.
"When we introduced this program, we were clear that these payments would need to be paid back, as is the case with any loan," the memo stated. "These funds are critical for important priorities like expanding access to team-based primary care, home care, mental health services and shortening wait times for key surgeries and procedures."

Beginning next month, the Ministry of Health will recover that money by deducting pay from physicians' monthly OHIP payments over a one-year period, rather than the original five-month timeline it first proposed, with no interest charged.
"The ministry has conducted an analysis against providers' recent billings and is extremely confident in the ability for those who still owe to repay any outstanding loans," it said in the memo...Read more

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