TORONTO — More than 500 Ontario doctors billed the province over $1 million last year, with one ophthalmologist billing what the government calls "a staggering" $6.6 million.
Health Minister Eric Hoskins says the top billers represent less than two per cent of Ontario doctors but account for nearly 10 per cent of billings, or $677 million.
Of the top five billers, two are ophthalmologists, two are radiologists and one is an anaesthesiologist, but their names and where they work are not being released.
There are 154 diagnostic radiologists, 85 ophthalmologists and 57 cardiologists in the million dollar club.
There are no caps on billings by Ontario doctors, who are paid an average of $368,000 a year, and Hoskins says the speciali sts who earn several times the average are taking money away from other physicians and health-care services.
The province spends $11 billion a year on physician compensation, but has been locked in a fight with the Ontario Medical Association after it imposed a series of fee cuts last year.
The OMA, which represents 34,000 doctors and medical students, has said the best way to get a new fee agreement with physicians is for the government to agree to binding arbitration.
Hoskins urged the OMA to return to negotiations, which broke off in January, 2015.
"The current structure allows certain high-billing physicians to generate income many times the average doctor's salary, which is due, in part, to the fact that the fee structure has not kept pace with medical and technological advances," he said in a release.
