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TORONTO — Health Minister Eric Hoskins complained Wednesday about the billing practices of some Ontario doctors, who he said were taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from home care and other services.

“Unpredictable and frankly out of control billing by some doctors is a problem that creates huge income for some doctors, but it leaves less for family doctors,” said Hoskins.

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“It leaves less for our salaried doctors in community health centres, it squeezes our ability to invest more money in home care and community care, and it robs of us of the capacity to responsibly plan our health care spending each year.”

There are no caps on billings by Ontario doctors, “so they effectively set their own salaries,” and at an average of $360,000 a year are the highest paid in Canada, added Hoskins.

But the unpredictable billing allows some specialists to earn several times the average, and forces the government to find millions of dollars on top of the $11 billion set aside annually for physician compensation, he said.