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Alberta government, doctors reach agreement

A deal is almost done between the province and its physicians.

The two sides have reached a memorandum of understanding, which gives them a week to finalize a 7 year contract, which also includes a three year wage freeze.

President of the Alberta Medical Association Dr. Michael Giuffre says

“I’m pleased to say that this is likely never going to happen again because we have an evergreen type of agreement that allows us to then renegotiate fees or whatever else comes along at intervals of time that make sense to patients, make sense to government, and make sense to physicians,” he said.

Health Minister Fred Horne says the AMA’s willingness to go without fee increases were key to getting a deal done.

He noted a sense of urgency throughout negotiations.

“If we could not achieve a memorandum of understanding at a very, very short time, I think we shared a very real concern that it could be a very prolonged period before we would ever see another agreement,” he said.

April 16, 2013