Concordia improves access to affordable health services
In a province-wide effort to make health care more accessible, the Regie de l’assurance maladie du Quebec (RAMQ) and the Federation des medecins omnipraticiens du Quebec recently set limits on the fees that physicians could charge for “non-insured services.”
These services, such as SAAQ reports for fitness to drive evaluations, are not covered by provincial medicare or private insurers. Both regulatory and professional bodies further required Quebec’s physicians to clearly post non-insured fees in waiting rooms.
Rather than merely adopt these fees, however, Concordia’s physicians took it a few steps further — they decided to offer lower, more advantageous rates for the campus population, and selected flat rates wherever possible.
“Concordia’s physicians are deeply committed to the health of our students. Their efforts embody Concordia’s strategic direction to ‘Go Beyond’ for its community,” says Gaya Arasaratnam, director of Campus Wellness and Support Services.
The formal adoption of these new fees took effect in January. It applies to the Sir George Williams and Loyola Health Services clinics. The new fees are visible on posters in waiting rooms.
“We have one of the busiest campus clinics in Quebec,” says Anne-Marie Lanctôt, manager of Community Health Services.
“In 2018, we booked roughly 45,000 patient appointments. Put differently, that’s about the equivalent of one appointment per Concordia student. We reach many Concordia students, staff and faculty with our services and we strive to make health care as accessible to our campus community as we can.”
Find out more about what Concordia Health Services has to offer.
