Province working to fulfil medical homes promise, but former Health P.E.I. CEO skeptical

Health P.E.I.'s former CEO Michael Gardam says patient medical homes would help more people see a doctor, but he doubts there's enough space or people to staff them.

During last spring's election campaign, the Progressive Conservatives promised medical homes would get everyone off the P.E.I. Patient Registry. At the time, Premier Dennis King said the province was developing its 14th medical home, and the goal was to have 30 by the end of 2024.

Medical homes offer a wide range of services, with doctors collaborating with other health-care workers.

There are now 17 established or in the works across the Island, and Laura O'Conner, the medical director of family medicine with Health P.E.I., said on Tuesday that 30 "is not a silly number."

Last March, there were 28,546 people on the Patient Registry waiting for a family doctor. Today, there are 36,000.

In an interview following a legislative committee last Wednesday, Gardam said the medical homes may take some patients off the registry, but not as many as government would like.

"I mean, I think it's a laudable goal, we'd all love that," he said.

"I think the issue is … whether we'd be able to do it or not. Our experience to date is we can't recruit that many people."

He said the medical homes are not recruiting doctors, but instead moving existing physicians into group practices. And he questioned whether there is enough physical space for the homes.

Gardam's comments came just after a contentious legislative committee meeting last week where he said Health P.E.I. has never been allowed to operate at arm's length from government. He also said the agency was never consulted about the government's promise to get everybody off the registry and into a medical home.

Political scientist Don Desserud said governments should not make promises they can't keep, and that Health P.E.I. should have been consulted on the PC commitment to clear the patient registry.

"What's supposed to prevent parties from doing that is the realization that if they can't fulfil that promise they're going to pay for it," he said. 

O'Connor said factors outside of their control have slowed down the process, but Health P.E.I. is working hard to meet the government's commitment of 30 medical homes by the end of 2024.

"With the strain that we have in health-care workers, it is a really delicate conversation to have to say 'I want you to do things the new way, I want you to feel comfortable, I want this to be sustainable for the rest of your life, also I'm going to double your patient list.' Like, you can't really just do that right at the outset."