{"source_url": "http://www.highriveronline.com", "url": "http://www.highriveronline.com/local/black-diamond-doctor-speaks-out-on-health-care-cuts", "title": "Black Diamond Doctor Speaks Out On Health Care Cuts", "top_image": "https://www.highriveronline.com/images/stories/news_photos_2020/black_diamond_and_turner_valley/people/doctor_noel_grisdale_mar13_2020_001.jpg", "meta_img": "https://www.highriveronline.com/images/stories/news_photos_2020/black_diamond_and_turner_valley/people/doctor_noel_grisdale_mar13_2020_001.jpg", "images": ["https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=33145398&cv=2.0&cj=1", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/logos/suncountry-button.png", "http://www.highriveronline.com/media/system/images/printButton.png", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-9f16508b2d67e25c1a5182719cab3d32.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/logos/am1140-button.png", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/stories/news_photos_2020/black_diamond_and_turner_valley/people/doctor_noel_grisdale_mar13_2020_001.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-dc3cd98bb65ae3880114b585f2d4d480.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-1f6df6dd2f4ce6116274484f73605600.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-2213042796329230507266370405a4d1.jpg", "http://v2.goldenwestads.com/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=2322&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE&n=aa31bf22", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-9e539aa105e4858c1f732a7da89d5a93.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-6a18692b83eecf6a3df2c508b0c21ec9.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-704c57bb2c2896259a5c4ebb354169b3.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-1e50b9c6fde5a3412f645504a6e9ab51.jpg", "https://www.highriveronline.com/images/stories/news_photos_2020/black_diamond_and_turner_valley/people/doctor_noel_grisdale_mar13_2020_001.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-52fd46ca8d1fd6d3de49d9fc52214508.jpg", "http://www.highriveronline.com/images/raxo_thumbs/amp/tb-w134-h100-crop-int-e90b892418ff640ee8e3427c5f0d797e.jpg"], "movies": [], "text": "One Black Diamond Doctor is speaking out about the raw deal he says doctors are getting from the Province when it comes to billing.\n\nAs part of their cost cutting measures, the Province is cutting back on the amount doctors can bill for spending more than a few minutes with each patient.\n\nDoctor, Noel Grisdale, who's a former head of the Alberta Medical Association, says they offered to help the Province shed money in costs, but the government didn't want to listen.\n\n\"We've on many, many levels spoken with the government how we want to help out with their deficits and we want to actually propose negative cuts across the board for physician pay. But they're insisting on doing it this way, which is directly going to impact patient care. Especially in rural areas. But physicians, family physicians and the time they can spend with patients are going to be directly impacted.\"\n\nHe says the Province pulling back on the extra cash doctors could bill for seeing patients longer than the minimum, is going to hurt both the doctors ability to operate in rural areas, and their patients.\n\n\"So, you got a little bump in what you got paid if you spent an extra 10 minutes with patients. So they unilaterally said \"Well we're not going to pay you for that time anymore.\" So, it's going back to 10, 11 years ago, where you really, to keep your overhead and pay for your staff and utilities and everything you have to go back to see more patients per hour.\"\n\nGrisdale says they had planned an open house and C. Ian McLaren High School for Sunday, March 15 but decided to cancel it over concerns around the coronavirus.\n\n\"We felt that in light of what's happening and trying to prevent the spread of this virus it wasn't very prudent of us to be gathering together hundreds of patients. Particularly patients that are over the age of 60, have other health conditions and put them at risk, and even ourselves at risk as delivering health care. If we get sick, then we're quarantined for two weeks.\"\n\nGrisdale says as medical professionals they know where cuts can be made that won't affect the treatment of patients.\n\nBut he says the government instead decided to make the cuts political and not practical.\n\nSend us your news tips, story ideas and comments at [email protected]", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": [], "authors": ["Russell Skeet"], "publish_date": "Sun Mar 15 23:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "/templates/gantry/favicon.ico", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1", "author": "Russell Skeet", "twitter": {"card": "summary", "url": "https://www.highriveronline.com/local/black-diamond-doctor-speaks-out-on-health-care-cuts", "title": "Black Diamond Doctor Speaks Out On Health Care Cuts - HighRiverOnline.com", "image": "https://www.highriveronline.com/images/stories/news_photos_2020/black_diamond_and_turner_valley/people/doctor_noel_grisdale_mar13_2020_001.jpg"}, "generator": "Joomla! - Open Source Content Management", "fb": {"app_id": 1962145674059999, "admins": 563760633}, "og": {"title": "Black Diamond Doctor Speaks Out On Health Care Cuts - HighRiverOnline.com", "type": "article", "url": "https://www.highriveronline.com/local/black-diamond-doctor-speaks-out-on-health-care-cuts", "site_name": "HighRiverOnline.com", "image": "https://www.highriveronline.com/images/stories/news_photos_2020/black_diamond_and_turner_valley/people/doctor_noel_grisdale_mar13_2020_001.jpg"}}, "canonical_link": "https://www.highriveronline.com/local/black-diamond-doctor-speaks-out-on-health-care-cuts"}