This article originally appeared in the Winter 2021 issue of the Ontario Medical Review magazine.
The OMA’s leadership has supported the organization’s Membership objective through relativity and enhanced communications, including the Value of Doctors masterbrand campaign.
The OMA is jointly pursuing the Statistics Canada Overhead Study, which is pending a review by the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. The Statistics Canada Overhead Study is an initiative designed to improve the bargaining position of Ontario’s doctors and help inform relativity discussions.
The Relativity Advisory Committee has conducted a membership-wide survey and has provided recommendations to the board and Negotiations Task Force on its relativity mandate. The Fee-Adjusted Income Relativity model is in progress. The Return on Education study and the Non-FFS Report are both complete. The Relativity Advisory Committee has also finalized its Practice Model Overhead study that will commence in January 2022.
Two communications initiatives in 2021 built public trust in the OMA and increased the organization’s value for members.
OMA News was launched in February to make member communications more accessible and streamlined. The newsletter features messages from the president, CEO and board chair, as well as updates on COVID-19, negotiations and general association news and member discounts.
OMA.org also launched in February. The new website has a modern, accessible design with a simplified homepage, an expanded members’ newsroom, dedicated space for leadership updates, news releases and Ontario Medical Review articles.
The OMA’s Value of Doctors masterbrand campaign ran in early 2021, updating the original 2020 commercial to reflect the new realities of delivering patient care during COVID. The 60- and 30-second commercials, featuring the same physicians as 2020, ran on TV and in paid social media, and was complemented by the “always on” paid search campaign. The paid advertising was supported by long-form video content, “Stories from the frontlines.”
The campaign significantly exceeded the audience reach and viewership goals, with the ad viewed more than 141 million times. Paid social media on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube all received higher-than-expected views.