Some of the proposed changes to the health professions act would have all doctors, regardless of specialty, potentially providing primary care. Let consider the real costs of this. Only yesterday a patient asked me to "check her iron levels" because she did not want to

have to go to her primary care provider. I can check iron levels. I can treat it. But...My role is to provide subspecialty care to complex patients with diabetes. If I start providing primary care as well, I will have to reduce the time I spend looking after diabetes

to make up for the time it will take to do primary care. I also do not have training in primary care so...I will then have to update my training (while maintaining a busy diabetes practice) in areas of primary care that commonly arise for me. This may sound great

but-who will do diabetes care that I no longer have time for? ...and by the way....the wait list for a new patient to be seen in my practice (there are 5 of us that offer subspecialty diabetes care in my practice) is about a year currently. #AbLeg @DShepYEG @Albertadoctors