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Summary

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Health law — Public health insurance plan — Administration — Whether medical specialist, as individual, may submit dispute to council of arbitration established by s. 54 of Health Insurance Act, CQLR c. A 29 (“HIA”), or whether only medical specialist’s representative association, Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (“Fédération”), has interest required — Whether s. 54 of HIA prevents negotiating parties (Fédération and Minister of Health and Social Services of Quebec) from using bipartite process created by agreement rather than arbitration provided for in statute to resolve potential disputes surrounding designation of laboratories for purposes of digitization fee — Whether s. 54 of HIA prevents negotiating parties from determining in agreement how and by whom dispute may be submitted to council of arbitration — Whether unanimous refusal of negotiating parties to designate laboratory for purposes of digitization fee, even though they specified in agreement that they would determine designation, constitutes dispute resulting from interpretation or application of agreement.

The Attorney General of Quebec is applying for leave to appeal the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeal on October 21, 2015 dismissing the appeal from the judgment rendered on December 18, 2013 by the Superior Court, which allowed the motion for judicial review brought by the respondent, Dr. Ronald Guérin. Specifically, the Superior Court reversed the decision made by the council of arbitration on January 29, 2013 and found that the council had jurisdiction to decide the dispute submitted by the respondent on January 30, 2012. The respondent had asked the council of arbitration to declare that the clinics he represented met the necessary conditions for obtaining a special fee. The issue is whether a medical specialist, as an individual, may submit that dispute to the council of arbitration established by s. 54 of the Health Insurance Act or whether only the medical specialist’s representative association, the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec, has the interest required.

Lower Court Rulings