Provincial medical association's research finds significant variation in unexplained billings gap across several factors
The gender pay gap has been much-reported across different corners of the corporate world, and new research from the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) suggests that it extends into the medical field as well.
The association conducted an extensive examination of OHIP billings from 2017-18. That analysis, which it called “the largest study of its type in Canada,” included nearly all doctors practising in Ontario and adjusted for various factors such as years of experience and work outside of business hours.
After accounting for different variables, the OMA said its “apples-to-apples” comparison revealed an unexplained gap of 15.6% in daily billings.
Teasing apart the data further based on specialty, geography, and practice setting (private vs. hospital) revealed significant variation in the unexplained billings gap. From a specialty standpoint, the discrepancy was found to be widest among general and family-practice physicians (19%) and narrowest among surgeons (10.2%). Location-wise, the gap was highest among doctors practicing in a semi-urban setting (19.8%), and lowest in rural settings (10.1%), with urban practitioners landing in the middle at 13.5%.
“Pay Equity is essential to ensuring that we have a diverse medical profession,” OMA President Dr. Samantha Hill said in a statement. “We have seen in many sectors that there are huge benefits to end users when there is increased diversity. It would follow that patient outcomes will be improved by diversity in their physicians.”
While the OMA doesn’t pretend to know what the definitive causes of the unexplained gap are, it drew from physician consultations to identify possible drivers. Some suspect variables such as patient characteristics, referral networks, fee codes and coding practices, and mix of services; others suggested that factors reflecting societal gender-biased expectations and systemic discrimination could be at work.
“OMA leadership is committed to deeper dives into identifying the causes and working towards system-level approaches to solutions,” the association said in a statement.
