The beginnings of a fee-for-service payment model. Sound familiar?

Provinces should fund hospitals based on the number of patients they treat instead of handing over a lump sum that forces them to close beds and operating rooms when the money runs out, says the incoming head of the Canadian Medical Association.

Dr. Brian Day said the result of the current way of doing things, the so-called global funding model, is long wait lists that leave thousands of people suffering as their condition deteriorates.

Gridlock in emergency rooms is inevitable because patients linger there when there aren’t any beds available on wards, he said.

A market-oriented approach would give hospital administrators the incentive to provide better, faster service because they’d be competing for patients to get funding, he said.