Bill 498: An Act to remove obstacles to efficiency in the health system

This bill most directly affects physicians, dentists, and other regulated health professionals practicing in Quebec, whether in clinics, specialized medical centres (SMCs), or private practice. Doctors who previously had to comply with territorial staffing plans or perform specific medical activities to qualify for public billing agreements will no longer face those constraints. Private specialized medical centres — think surgical or diagnostic clinics operating outside the public hospital system — gain new flexibility: they can now operate as 'mixed' centres where both public-plan and private-practice physicians work side by side, and they are no longer capped on the number of beds or restricted to 24-hour stays. Physicians who want to work partly inside and partly outside the public plan can now do so as 'mixed-practice professionals' without needing special government authorization, opening up new business models for private health clinics in Quebec.