S-4.2 - Act respecting health services and social services

Section 431.2 Disposition versions

2007-03-01

431.2. If, after holding the appropriate consultations, the Minister considers that in light of generally recognized accessibility standards, the waiting time for a specialized medical service in Québec or in a particular region of Québec is unreasonable or about to become so, the Minister may, after obtaining the Government’s consent, take any measure necessary to implement alternative access mechanisms, in accordance with the Minister’s directives, so that the service concerned may be made otherwise accessible within a time the Minister considers reasonable.

The Minister may require that the institutions concerned or, if applicable, the provider chosen under section 520.3.0.1, supply, in the manner and within the time specified, the information collected under section 185.1 that is necessary for the Minister to assess whether the waiting time for a specialized medical service is unreasonable or about to become so. To that end, the Minister may also require that the provider produce statistics per institution or region or for all of Québec based on the information and supply them to the Minister. In no case may the information permit a user of an institution to be identified.

The Minister’s directives may require every institution involved in the provision of the service concerned to adjust its central access management mechanism accordingly, and require agencies, in cooperation with the integrated university health networks, to review service corridors in order to otherwise facilitate access to the service concerned.

The person responsible for a hospital centre’s central access management mechanism must notify the director of professional services on noting, after consulting the head of the clinical department concerned, that a user will not be able to receive a specialized medical service from the institution within a time the Minister considers reasonable. In that case, the director of professional services shall without delay make an alternative service proposal to the user within the framework of the medical care access system defined under subparagraph 3 of the first paragraph of section 417.11 and the service corridors established by the agency, so that the user may receive the required specialized medical service within a time the Minister considers reasonable.

Despite any inconsistent provision, the Minister may assume the cost of any service received in accordance with the Minister’s directives in a specialized medical centre described in subparagraph 2 of the first paragraph of section 333.3 or outside Québec.

2006, c. 43, s. 17.