CTV News has learned a new funding model will mean that general practitioners who work in Nova Scotia hospitals will be paid more than their colleagues who work in family clinics.    

Doctors Nova Scotia acknowledges the gap, and says it's just one step toward revamping the funding model for all family doctors.

“This new funding model finally remunerates hospitalists in an appropriate fashion,” says Dr. Tim Holland, president-elect of Doctors Nova Scotia.

Before now, pay for hospitalists was inconsistent across the province. Dr. Holland says there was an urgent need to revamp the system because backlogs with those physicians can have a trickle-down effect.

“Lead to a backup in the emerg, lead to patients who are in crisis and need urgent care not being able to actually get into the emergency department,” says Dr. Holland.

According to Doctors Nova Scotia, the demands are growing, along with the number of patients without a family doctor. But the organization also acknowledges this move does nothing to encourage young physicians to get into family practice.

“Family physicians are still undervalued and this just further highlights that undervalue of family physicians,” says Dr. Holland.

The head of Dalhousie's Department of Family Medicine tells CTV News that while this funding agreement is positive for hospitalists, it also highlights inequity in physician pay, which could hurt efforts to recruit family doctors.

Family physicians on a fee-for-service model say they're billing around $800 a day, and then paying overhead costs such as rent and staff salaries. For Doctors Nova Scotia, this is a step toward negotiating a new funding model for the entire system.

“Implementing a payment model that appropriately funds family medicine in a way that will ensure everyone has a family physician is going to take a huge investment,” Dr. Holland says.

The new funding model for hospitalists will cost the province an extra $3.2 million.

Dr. Holland says he thinks the government, the Nova Scotia Health Authority and Doctors Nova Scotia are starting to see eye-to-eye on the need for a new payment model for family medicine.

CTV News asked the health authority and the Department of Health for interviews on Tuesday. They were not granted.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie.