Medical Association President Dr. Kris Luscombe says physicians are feeling devalued after getting the numbers on Fonemed’s lucrative contract with the provincial government to provide the 811 Healthline service.

Luscombe is taking up Health Minister Tom Osborne’s offer of a meeting to discuss their concerns.

Luscombe says the province has categorized the service as 24/7, but they’re taking issue with virtual patient visits with a nurse practitioner which is available 12 hours a day.

Fonemed receives $82 per call for that service.

Luscombe says the virtual care provided by a family physician to their patients is the “gold standard” and members believe government doesn’t have a full understanding of what they bring to the health care relationship.

He says physicians are feeling hurt and demoralized, and the revelation will have a negative impact on morale, recruitment and retention.

The province’s health minister says he wishes the contract with Fonemed for the province’s 811 HealthLine service wasn’t quite so rich, but they were the only company to respond to the RFP for the service.

Tom Osborne says 811 proved to be an essential and invaluable service through the pandemic with the average number of calls jumping from 130 to 520 a day.

The Medical Association is crying foul after an Access to Information request revealed that the five-year contract is valued at more than $31 million.

NLMA President Kris Luscombe says according to their calculations, that translates to approximately $82 per call, compared to $37 for a standard in-person visit and $47 for a virtual care visit with a family physician.

Minister Osborne says he understands why the NLMA is upset.

He hopes to see more than one bidder on the next RFP and see those costs come down, but he believes part of the reason why costs are high is because demand has increased dramatically “for a variety of reasons.”