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Quebec's College of Physicians is demanding more transparency from the provincial government as legislators push to reform health care in Quebec.

The college, which oversees doctors throughout the province, says it is concerned that the three bills being debated in the National Assembly -- 10, 20 and 28 -- which have severe effects on health care with little understanding of the long-term ramifications.

Bill 10 will overhaul the regional boards that administer health care throughout the province and would eliminate hundreds of middle-management positions.

Bill 20 would eliminate the option of part-time work for doctors, and would require doctors to see a fixed number of patients each year.

Bill 28 proposes new powers for pharmacists and would allow them to renew prescriptions for certain medication.

Doctors say the government has not demonstrated how the changes proposed by the three bills would ultimately affect patients.

"Right now Bill 20 doesn't give a lot of information about the consequences," said Dr. Charles Bernard, president of the College of Physicians.

"What we know is - you want to bring some physicians to follow some patients, but what kind of patients? How many patients?"

The bills also propose penalizing doctors that cannot meet their quotas, and the College said that has not worked in the past.

"The government is going forward and we're going to solve some problems in the future," said Dr. Yves Robert. “We don't know exactly what we are going to have to face in the future with the side effects of all these laws.”

Health Minister Gaetan Barrette said he believes the plan is clear: improve access for patients and make sure referrals and integration of medical services is more organized.

He added, however, that the details the doctors are searching for cannot be provided until he's met with the federations of healthcare doctors and bureaucrats who will be most affected.

"We're doing this for the public, we're not doing this for the College, or for myself or the federations," said Barrette.

The health minister added the government is not trying to limit debate on Bill 10, despite rumours closure would be invoked this week.

Barrette said the government's ultimate "goal is to save public money" including spending less on prescription medication.

Patients’ rights lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard, however, said by forcing GPs to increase their patient quotas under Bill 20, doctors will favour healthy patients.

“People who need longer treatment, more frequent treatment, it could be difficult,” he said, adding that years of increasing doctors' salaries hasn't yet resulted in improved accessibility.

“We never had so many doctors, better paid with a decrease in the services.”

On that issue, the premier himself agreed.

“Incomes are up, but access is not going up. I don't accept this anymore,” said Premier Philippe Couillard, adding there now has to be a measurable commitment from the doctors.

“We have enough doctors that any family, that every family should have a family doctor. And that's the bottom line,” he said.