Ontario government plans to recoup COVID-19 loans to province's doctors

Ontario doctors who received loans from the province during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to cover increased costs and offset revenue losses stemming from lower patient volumes will now have one year to pay those sums back.

The Ontario government laid out plans to recoup the money in a memo issued to the Ontario Medical Association on Friday. The province said it is "critical" to recover more than $521 million in outstanding loan payments from the COVID-19 Advance Payment Program in order to fund other priorities.

The combination of low COVID-19 infection rates and strong vaccine uptake throughout the province suggests the time is right to "transition to a post-pandemic state," it added.

"When we introduced this program, we were clear that these payments would need to be paid back, as is the case with any loan," the memo stated.

"These funds are critical for important priorities like expanding access to team-based primary care, home care, mentalhealth services and shortening wait times for key surgeries and procedures."

The province launched the COVID-19 Advance Payment Program in April 2020 to provide monthly automated advance payments to physicians at rates equivalent to 70 per cent of their averageincome.

Beginning next month, the Ministry of Health will recover that money by deducting pay from physicians' monthly OHIP payments over a one-year period, rather than the original five-month timeline it first proposed, with no interest charged.

"The ministry has conducted an analysis against providers' recent billings and is extremely confident in the ability for those who still owe to repay any outstanding loans," it said in the memo.

"That said, in the event that an individual provider is concerned about their ability to repay the loan, the ministry is willing to consider extending the timeline for recovery to mitigate the financial impact."

Loan repayments initially began in April 2021

Physicians with questions related to their individual circumstances and repayment schedules are advised to contact the ministry's service support centre.

"As Ontario and the rest of the world continues to a post-pandemic transition, we have seen billings return to normal and are confident in the ability in those who owe to repay outstanding loans," Hannah Jensen, spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said in an emailed statement.

"The $521 million in recovered funds will be reinvested in our health-care system to improve access to more connected and convenient care by shortening wait times and expanding primary care, home care and mental health services."

Loan repayments initially began in April 2021 and the ministry said it has recovered nearly $139 million out of the total $660 million provided since then.