New Brunswick Access to Information and Privacy Commissioner Anne Bertrand is recommending the full disclosure of physician-identified billing information. Bertrand believes the Department of Health should release the exact amounts doctors bill for, as well as the specialties and names of individual physicians. Her report marks the third time in as many years the agency has looked into physician-identified billings. In the two most recent cases, the office recommended public funds paid to doctors be disclosed. The report stems from a Telegraph-Journal right-to-information request to the Department of Health for access to the names of the top 100 Medicare billers in New Brunswick, including the amounts they billed for along with their medical specialty. The department is not obligated to follow through with the recommendations and release the information. In June, the Government of New Brunswick announced it was making physician-identified payment data public. The online list shows doctors' names, with billing amounts displayed in ranges. The exact amount each received, in addition to their specialty or type of work, was withheld.
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