An arbitrator has awarded Ontario doctors a four-year contract in a ruling that puts no hard cap on the physician services budget.
The decision released today says placing such a restriction on the payments to doctors for publicly insured services would be unfair.
But the arbitrator says a working group will be established to look into restricting inappropriate or overused physician services or physician payments.
The doctors have been in conflict with the government for several years, including voting down a proposal in 2016 that would have increased the approximately $12-billion physician services budget by more than $1 billion but also included $200 million in fee cuts.
In today's decision, the arbitrator has also awarded fee increases of an average of one per cent over the four years of the contract, to March 31, 2021.
The ruling rejects a government request for fee reductions specific to opthamology and cardiology.