Want to know what a doctor in N.L. bills? Now you can

For the first time, the public now has access to exactly how much each doctor in the province is billing.

The database was released to CBC under an access-to-information request, one that took four years and a court battle to reveal.

The information is for the 2018-19 fiscal year, the latest information the province has.

What the association representing doctors wants the public to know is that billings do not reflect how much a doctor actually takes home at the end of the year.

• Medical billings now public after 4-year battle by doctors' association to keep them secret

"Almost like how much money comes in a cash register in a store, that's not exactly how much is the take home pay for those physicians," said Dr. Charlene Fitzgerald, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association.

The association went to court to try and stop the information from being released, eventually relenting after courts in other provinces agreed with releasing the information.

From their billings, doctors often have to pay for staff, pay rent on an office, buy equipment, pay insurance and taxes. The amount of overhead depends on the specialty and the doctor.

The NLMA asked consulting firm Deloitte to survey members.

It found a large variation in the size of the overhead. Family doctors on average pay $80,800 a year in expenses.

For medical specialists, overhead ranges from $58,567 for specialists working out of the hospital to $275,102 for specialists who run their own clinic.

Surgeons have an average overhead of $114,332 but that's lower for surgeons who practise at a hospital.

Doctors have other sources of income

Many doctors on the list were paid only small amounts. There are several reasons for this.

It could be because they're only working part time, or as a locum, filling in for doctors who are on vacation. Other times it could be doctor who's on salary with a health authority, but is able to bill for extra care they provide above and beyond their regular duties.

Many specialists perform procedures that aren't covered by the province; these are paid for directly by individuals, their insurance company or workers health and compensation. None of that is included in the government figures.

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