Several Ontario mayors have been calling on the province to ban financial incentives municipalities use to lure in doctors, saying the recruitment tactic is harming communities that can’t pony up the cash—especially those in rural and northern regions.
In rural Nova Scotia, the job of recruiting physicians and other healthcare workers can sometimes entail having to cat-sit—even if you’re allergic to felines.
‘We know that there's this healthcare crisis, and it's amplified in rural communities, and so I don't think we have the time to wait for someone else to do this work,’ the society’s past president said.
Ontario is looking for up to 80 new or expanded primary care teams to serve 300,000 patients, as it plans to build a system that automatically attaches people to a family doctor or nurse practitioner team based on their postal code.
Amid recruitment efforts in Canada seeking to woo U.S. physicians, new numbers from the Medical Council of Canada suggest there has been a surge in interest among American doctors looking to move their practice north.
The report also notes Atlantic Registry participants still faced administrative burdens to practice outside their home province, such as privileging incorporation.
