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ER docs top salary list amid physician shortage

TOP EARNERS in 2008 at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

By: Mary Agnes Welch

2/07/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 11

ER doctors out-earn Dr. Brian Postl.

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ER doctors out-earn Dr. Brian Postl.

WINNIPEG — EMERGENCY room doctors continue to cash in on the physician shortfall, with some banking salaries worth more than half a million dollars in 2008.

According to the WRHA's latest annual staff compensation report, released Tuesday, 35 of the 50 highest-paid staff are ER doctors.

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(WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Many even out-earned some of the WRHA's best-known senior administrators, including president and chief executive officer Brian Postl and Dr. Brock Wright, the senior vice-president of clinical services.

Last year was the first full year of a hefty fee increase that started in the summer of 2007 designed to woo doctors into the city's four community hospital emergency rooms. The deal offered doctors salary hikes worth between 25 and 50 per cent, making them among the highest-paid ER physicians in the country.

Emergency room physician Dr. Ronald Allan Scrapneck, who banked $568,962 last year, was the highest-paid person in the Winnipeg health region.

Scrapneck's salary remained relatively static from the year before, but other ER physicians saw big increases.

Dr. Werner Van Dyk made $504,840 in 2008, nearly triple what he earned in 2007. And Dr. Robert Patrick Kiz's salary almost doubled to $426,605.

But WRHA staff noted that some ER docs may have given up their private practices to work more hours in the ER, which would have saved Manitoba Health money on the fee-for-service side. And they say ER doctors who make more are also simply working more shifts.

Better salaries mean Winnipeg's community hospitals are short just two positions out of 42, a dramatic improvement from a couple of years ago.

Postl was given a 12 per cent pay hike in 2008, in part to fend off recruiters from other provinces, said Dr. John Wade, chairman of the WRHA's board. "We have to pay a competitive price and we actually pay him a lot less than he'd be making in the rest of the country," said Wade. "He's worth every penny."

Management salaries in the WRHA are frozen this year as part of a provincial edict.

The list of WRHA salaries, released every year, doesn't include hospitals funded by the WRHA but run by their own boards, like St. Boniface, Victoria, Concordia or Seven Oaks. The list also doesn't include CancerCare Manitoba, which is also managed by a separate board.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

 

PERSON POSITION SALARY % CHANGE

Dr. Ronald Allan Scrapneck emergency physician $568,962 up 3% since 2007

Dr. Mehran Samimi emergency physician $528,559 up 26%

Dr. Werner Van Dyk emergency physician $504,840 up 178%

Dr. Peter Bosma emergency physician $432,617 up 86%

Dr. Robert Patrick Kiz emergency physician $426,605 up 97%

Dr. Joe Wiatrowski emergency physician $421,129 down 1.3%

Dr. Brian Postl president and CEO $418,200 up 12%

Dr. Donovan Gray emergency physician $392,854 up 69%

Dr. Leslie McIntosh emergency physician $390,249 up 31%

Dr. Ricardo Lobato de Faria emergency physician $383,144 up 28%

 

-- Source: WRHA Statement of Public Sector Compensation Disclosure, 2008 and 2007

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 2, 2009 A4

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11 Commentscomment icon

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I gotta agree with these comments. If I get into a car accident, or some other horrible thing, and I need emergency medical service, do you think I care how much of my tax dollars I'm paying for this highly paid, and extremely educated doctor to fix me up and send me home to my family? Nope. Not in the least.

ER Physicians absolutely deserve these high salaries. They put in the long hours, their own health at risk and most of important (to me) is that they give us more time with our loved ones.

ER doctors and Family Physician`s deserve every penny they make. They save lives! In fact i think Doctor`s shouldn`t have to pay taxes because there deed they do is unmeasurable. Saving lives is most important thing ever and i feel that sometimes that our Doctors, suregons and many members of our health-care are unappericated as some people all they do is whine, and moan about how slow it is. People need to realise what these doctors do. So next time when you are ready to bite a head off a nurse, doctor, or health-care staff, think about what they`ve had to do and put up with. I truely believe we need to value our health professionals more. So what if they make Half a million. These doctors deserve it, nothing`s more important then the health of our people.

However, we do need to open up medical schools to allow training of more doctors and health-care staff. We`ve done some things, but we need to continue working on retaining our staff and bringing new ones.

I work in health-care and i`m seeing improvements, we`re on the right track so lets contiune.

I too believe that emergency room doctors are worth every dime they earn. The job they do is demanding and a high stress environment.
What no one has mentioned is the health risks they face. Blood borne diseases, contact with other body fluids, physical injury from patients, or their families.
It takes a special person to be able to do emergency room medicine. Let's pay them what they are worth to us all.

At least these people are worth every dime they earn... unlike baseball and hockey players. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE sports... but seriously... THEY are the ones overpaid... not the doctors!!!

So which is it? Is there a shortage of Doctors, or are they overpaid? Because it can't be both.......

Personally, I have absolutely no issues with the salaries of the er docs. These people are in extremely demanding situations and we should keep in mind that this is not a 9 to 5 kind of position. I hope that everyone will remember that the er doctors are the ones that are saving the lives of our friends and families in an emergency.

These Doctor's and Nurse's saved my life when I was seriously injured, they saved our daughter's life as well when she had gotten seriously ill. Thank my lucky stars for them, who cares how much they make, they had saved someone you know! Sports figures earn 10 times thier amount and contribute what? Look at what our head Zoo keeper made, $100,000.00 last year for taking care of the animals, so is $500,000.00 not worth saving your life? My hat off to them, thank you for helping me/us in OUR time of need. Police, Doctors, Nurses, Firefighters, Paramedics, they all deserve my thanks!

We do not have enough doctors in the city and yet they do not take that many students into medical school. People can not get in to medical school. Then we have doctors from other parts of the world that they do not recognize and I have to wonder if the medical profession likes to cry that they do not have enough doctors but when one shows up they push them out. Supply and demand. If they can keep the supply of doctors down then they can charge more. Just thinking out loud here.

Why is it that Mr Katz, Mr McCaskill and Mr J Brennans' salaries($399 725) do not even equal out to Dr Postls ($418 200)?
Who specifically is trying to "WOO" Dr. Postl? And why?
As far as I am concerned the only thing the WRHA does is administrate the administration of the hospitals of Winnipeg.
All of the hospitals in the city have executive management teams. Can they not properly run their themselves?
For example... Mr R Cloutier is an executive of the WRHA itself as well as Deer Lodge and the Grace Hospital. How can he correctly take care of these facilities?
Another question I have is are the board members paid for their sevices? And is is appropriate that people can be both board members of the WRHA and a hospital(Vera Derenchuk)?
In closing I feel doctors that care for and treat ALL patients in and out of the ER should definitely be paid more than anyone who tries to tell them how to work!!!

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