You've helped thousands get shots for COVID-19. Now he's in the running for $600K

A Kingston, Ont., doctor accused of organizing drive-thru vaccination clinics that helped thousands of people get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic has now been ordered to pay back more than $600,000 for those same services.

Dr. Elaine Ma said she has organized more than 45 vaccination clinics that have given about 35,000 doses between April 2021 and next February.

Her work was recognized by the Ontario College of Family Physicians, which awarded her the 2021 Excellence Award, in part citing Ma's role in increasing local vaccination rates.

About a year later, the doctor said he received a notice from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) demanding a refund of the money he paid for the shot — about $600,000, plus about $35,000 in interest.

“I was shocked that OHIP chose to do this. I chose not to look at the big picture here, which means that we have saved people's lives,” said Ma, adding that although a few years have passed, people seem to forget what life is. it was the same between the first waves of COVID-19.

Answering the 'call to arms'

At the time, Premier Doug Ford and retired General Rick Hillier, who was in charge of vaccination in Ontario, were urging people to get a gun, Ma recalled.

“We answered the call to arms. We did it sincerely. We did it because people will end up in the ICU – or worse, dead – if they are not vaccinated,” said Ma, whose story was first reported by local news. Kingstonist exit.

It's a situation the president of the Ontario Medical Association said rewards “heroic effort” with strong performance. Kingston's health chief believes it could have a negative effect on intelligence the next time the province calls on doctors to respond to an emergency.

'I was shocked that OHIP chose to do this and chose not to look at the bigger picture here, which is, we saved lives,' said Ma, seen here in an examination room at his office in Kingston on November 6, 2024. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

No one disputes that Ma established clinics and dispensed tens of thousands of doses, but the doctor said OHIP argued that he was not allowed to transfer jobs outside the four walls of his office, based on a report issued 20 years earlier.

Also at issue is the use of Queen's University medical students to administer injections, which is a “misuse of the billing code” that Ma used, according to a spokeswoman for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

'Out of pocket' doctor's fees

In a statement sent to CBC, Hannah Jensen wrote that during the COVID-19 crisis, a ministerial order was issued that provides an hourly rate for all insured services at testing centers, including vaccinations.

Doctors can also charge for existing vaccinations given in their offices if they or their employees carry a gun, but if that order is not properly followed, the doctors will need to return the fees they collected “improperly,” he said.

“There is no other doctor in the province who runs a mass vaccination clinic that has this issue,” Jensen wrote in an email, when asked about the status of Ma.

“This doctor billed the Department for over 23,000 vaccines in 5 days, falsely billing the Department for $630,000, 21 times their proper fees.”

Jensen said the department is also investigating the claim that Ma paid volunteers “20% of the total request and pocketed the rest.” However, the Ministry did not provide more details about the allegations.

Traffic lines up during a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in St. Lawrence College in Kingston on Jan. 2, 2022. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)

Ma said he used the same payment code he used in the past for flu shots. And while OHIP appears to be focused on the five or six busiest clinics he ran, the amount he was asked to pay was pooled among dozens of others, according to the doctor.

He also said OHIP ignores the days of work before and after each clinic, including training medical students, drawing thousands of vaccines and making sure they are tracked on the state's database.

“They said, 'Ooh, one doctor shouldn't make money, or he doesn't make money,'” said Ma, who pointed out that similar mass vaccination clinics run by pharmacies or public health centers have escaped similar requests.

Although the money he was asked to return worries him, Ma said he is more concerned about the principal's punishment of a doctor who did his part to help during the crisis, and the restrictions that may be placed on the training of medical students.

“Doctors are now afraid of being directed by OHIP to do the right thing, helping our patients,” he explained.

Ma described the tone of the department's statement as “accusatory,” adding the only investigation he is aware of is the OHIP dispute, which led to him spending the past two weeks in a hearing before the Health Services Appeals and Review Board in Toronto.

“It's very disappointing and disheartening to hear that the Department of Health thinks that way about me,” she said.

Doctor's efforts to be 'heroic'

It is also very different from the recommendation of his medical colleagues Ma.

Dr. Dominik Nowak, president of the Ontario Medical Association, called Ma's efforts during the violence “heroic.”

“This is an example of a doctor who should be celebrated, rather than having barriers and structures and a strict management is unnecessary,” he said.

Nwak described OHIP's apparent “hunt” for a reason to recover money from a doctor who tried to lend a hand during the pandemic as a “breach of trust”.

Dr. Piotr Oglaza, health officer for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, said Ma's clinics are fully supported by his organization. He even participated as a volunteer.

Clinic volunteers carry injection coolers during a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in St. Lawrence College in Kingston on Jan. 2, 2022. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)

He wrote a letter to the board on his behalf urging it to consider the context under which his clinics were held, and praised the drive-thru model for relieving pressure on the state health system by providing about seven percent of all prescriptions. region.

Oglaza said neither he nor Ma knew about the OHIP report he was accused of violating. If he was, he said he would have raised it with the province and he has no doubts that it would have been withdrawn, because there was interest in vaccination at that time.

He also warned Ma's plight may discourage doctors from taking action and responsibility for the mass vaccination project in the future when Ontario faces an emergency, because they risk being caught by OHIP expertise.

“I think that would be a real disaster,” Oglaza said.