Message from a medical billing clerk:

The AMA received this message from a medical billing clerk from a family medicine clinic:

I am currently working as a medical billing clerk. In 2022 we had a staff of four general practitioners that had been practicing here for at least a few years. In Dec 2022 we had one physician close her practice, we immediately started advertising for a replacement. In June 2023 we lost the second physician (relocated to BC) who received a large bonus for opening a practice there.

Still advertising for the first physician. We stepped up our advertising to no avail. We have advertised in every known website and physician sites, plus to date, have sent out approx. 150 letters to physicians inviting them to meet with us and see our clinic. To date we have not received one response except from a headhunter company who offered to find us out of country physicians for $30,000.

Now we got notice that our 3rd physician will be leaving on maternity leave. We have over 5,000 patients who were served by this clinic. I would like to know how we are expected to survive with one now overworked physician and not even one candidate to replace any of the three physicians who we have lost. Government needs to take a hard look at what is happening in primary care and where we are supposed to send our 5,000 patients when we are forced to close.