Are you a new family practice grad? B.C. has a sweet offer for you

British Columbia is sweetening the pot to lure desperately needed family doctors, with lucrative offers for new family practice resident graduates that include a higher first-year rate—of almost $300,000—student loan forgiveness of up to $130,000 as well as a $25,000 signing bonus. The offers come at a time when one in five B.C. residents—or almost one million—do not have a family doctor. “This demonstrates our willingness to move quickly to attract future physicians to family medicine,” said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. “We wanted to encourage them as much as possible to to consider full-service family practice, and that’s why this proposal was made.” About 175 new family practice resident graduates received the offers on June 15 during a Health Ministry meeting, with the condition that they sign on by September to work as family doctors in B.C., according to a Times Colonist article, which reported that some 40 students attended the meeting. Read: B.C. starts Burnaby Hospital upgrade as rural hospitals face weekend ward closures Those who come on board for full-time work will immediately get a “new to practice” contract valued at $295,457 for the first year—an amount that was originally set for the second year of practice. In addition to this higher rate and the signing bonus, the new recruits will get a phased medical training debt-forgiveness plan of up to $50,000 for the first year and up to $20,000 annually for years two to five. Canadian and international medical graduates—graduating this summer from the two-year residency program or graduated in the past 12 months— are both eligible for the offers. Saanich family physician Dr. Jennifer Lush, who has written a number of op-eds about the province’s doctor shortage, called the contract a public relations tactic. Read: Forget fee-for-service: Doctors need a salary, says physician association “They’re trying to force new grads into signing these contracts,” she said. “I think it’s a PR move, right? Adrian Dix just wanted to be able to say he signed so many new doctors to contracts.” Dr. Lush said the Health Ministry did not ask graduates and Doctors of B.C. for their input. “This contract was rolled out with no consultation,” she said. “Doctors of B.C. was completely blindsided by it.” Read: How to solve Canada's healthcare human resources problems?

Are you a new family practice grad? B.C. has a sweet offer for you

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