NLMA calls for system upgrade after audit reveals MCP problems

Abby Cole · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 3:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Newfoundland and Labrador's aesculapian attraction program is nether scrutiny aft Auditor General Denise Hanrahan reported superior concerns surrounding the disbursement of funds — including treble payments and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Dr. Stephen Major, a household doc and president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, is calling for an updated strategy successful airy of Hanrahan's findings.

"Despite the authorities knowing that it needed to beryllium updated, they haven't," said Major. 

The strategy involves codes based connected the types of services the doc is offering. After an appointment, the doc volition input a codification into the strategy that represents the benignant of service, truthful that MCP tin past wage them for it. 

Major says for specialists the codes tin go much complex, and mistakes tin easy occur. There's currently no mode for a doc to marque definite they're being paid correctly, oregon spell backmost and close a codification that has a mistake, helium said.

"It's a precise basal rudimentary system. There's nary mode to verify what you're doing is the close happening oregon that you're really sometimes getting paid for the enactment you do," said Major. 

The rules that govern the codes were written 40 years ago, resulting successful a deficiency of clarity betwixt physicians and MCP astir however the codes should beryllium interpreted, helium added. If MCP disagrees with however a doc coded a diligent assessment, it would effect successful a agelong audit, which tin sometimes effect successful physicians being asked to wage backmost ample sums of money, said Major. 

He said determination needs to beryllium an updated strategy that prevents physicians from gathering incorrect codes, with wide rules, and the quality to easy close mistakes. 

Listen to the afloat interrogation connected On the Go: 

Cyber risk

Major worries the outdated strategy could beryllium breached, allowing idiosyncratic to hack successful and bargain diligent information. 

"We request an upgraded system, and we conscionable request a committedness from authorities to really put successful that and marque things amended than they are close now," said Major. 

The auditor wide besides recovered that a process called "business continuity and catastrophe recovery" is not being tested each twelvemonth similar it should be.  

Many of the problems contained successful her study were besides recovered successful an audit published in 2014.

The catastrophe betterment process is expected to beryllium an exigency effect to thing catastrophic, similar a cyberattack, said Memorial University engineering prof Jonathan Anderson.

Anderson likened that process to a occurrence drill. A harmless gathering volition person an evacuation program that requires testing every twelvemonth to cognize whether it works, helium said.

"It mightiness beryllium that the catastrophe betterment program is great, but unless you trial it, you can't truly cognize for sure," said Anderson. 

Acting Health Minister John Haggie told reporters "because of the past of the strategy itself, [it] really provides a humble grade of extortion portion we fig retired however champion to regenerate it." 

Anderson said Haggie could beryllium saying the strategy is excessively aged to beryllium attacked, which is perchance concerning. 

"Is it a substance of like, doctors person to usage a dial-up modem to taxable their billing oregon something? If so, past there's a small spot of imaginable for benignant of information by obscurity, and that could beryllium somewhat problematic," said Anderson.

Anderson said it's captious the authorities is vigilant astir keeping the strategy up to date. 

According to Hanrahan's report, there's presently nary program to regenerate the MCP system. 

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