For the second straight year the province will miss its mark for having Quebecers signed up with a family doctor.
The latest numbers show that as of the end of October, 80.5 per cent of the province had a general practitioner. The goal, set by former Health Minister Gaétan Barrette, was 85 per cent by the end of 2017.
Not only will the target be missed, but signups slowed considerably in 2018, increasing just 1.5 per cent since December 2017.
While doctors could face penalties and see pay cuts, as detailed in Bill 20 passed in 2015, the new government is taking a wait and see approach.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Danielle McCann told the Journal de Montreal it's too early to determine if the doctors will face the letter of the law introduced by the previous government and the Ministry is working with the Federation of General Practitioners on an action plan to improve current numbers.
The previous Liberal government took a hard line on its objective of 85 per cent of Quebecers with a general practitioner, but the CAQ government is a little easier going. Without putting a number on it the CAQ simply said the goal is to ensure that any Quebecer who wants access to a family doctor can have it.
During the election campaign Premier Francois Legault spoke of a different approach to solving the general practitioner conundrum. He said the pay structure for doctors would be revised, so it would not rely so heavily on paying them on a "per act" basis.
Legault said the current system has doctors fill up their schedule with patient appointments, leaving no room for the unexpected cases that may pop up every day, forcing more people into emergency rooms with non-life threatening issues.
At the same time then CAQ candidate Danielle McCann said nurses and pharmacists would be given more responsibility, allowing doctors to send some of their patients to other health professionals for procedures they would be able to do.