Most doctors want to see patients, not fight government. Doctors pay dues so that their medical associations will speak for them.

Is it even possible for a medical association to tell the truth about problems inside healthcare?

Can doctors speak about problems, without fear that the government will punish doctors for doing so?

Public Relations in Medicare

Everyone in our single payer system wrestles with what to say. Hospitals, associations, unions and patient groups must choose carefully what to say about:

• Patients suffering on wait lists.
• Provincial budgets that fall short.
• System mismanagement.

One option is to only share good news, all the time. If you have something bad to say, do not say it publicly.

This is the most popular approach. Nothing panics hospital administrators more than hearing that one of their nurses or doctors has sent bad news to the media. Continue reading “Public Relations Strategy or Just Tell the Truth?”

We hire a real estate agent to help us find a house. She only gets paid when a deal closes.

Good agents try to find something we will like.

But that takes time.

Agents have to ask questions, listen to us and then test what they have heard by showing us a few houses.

Often, agents hear wrong, or we do not explain ourselves very well.

Good real estate agents spend time and money to learn how to represent our interests with confidence.

Bad agents try to close a deal as soon as possible.

The OMA is negotiating a dispute resolution process with government, right now.

Doctors want this.

We hope the dispute resolution process will be fair and reasonable. The OMA tells doctors that it is moving along well.

But as soon as the OMA and government agree to a dispute resolution process, the government will want to begin negotiations on a physician services agreement (aka contract).

Who could blame it?

An election looms.

The government finally wants to resolve labour problems with doctors. It does not want to drag negotiations into the fall, or next year.

The OMA will face immense pressure to enter negotiations as soon as they have settled a dispute resolution process. Continue reading “Doctors Need a Good Agent – OMA Negotiations”

There are two kinds of homeowners. The first kind would never change faucets and doorknobs. They buy a house, tear it down and start over. 

Other people keep what they can tolerate. They cannot afford to be radical.

No matter the approach, everyone agrees: The point of renovation is to rebuild.

Like an old house, the OMA sprawls with additions, legacy rooms and dark closets unfit for visitors. It’s tired and dysfunctional. Most people finally admit it.

The OMA was never built to service 42,000 members. It was not designed to command a battle with an activist, majority government in the trenches of social media.

Crisis can bring out the best in people. It often brings out the worst in organizations. The OMA crisis exposed problems that no one talked about when times were good. Continue reading “Time to Rebuild the OMA”