Newfoundland and Labrador doctors sign shared plan with province

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association has signed a shared agenda with the province that outlines high-priority issues and projects for healthcare, according to a January 6 announcement issued by the association and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. “Family medicine is struggling with physician shortages, and a workforce experiencing increased demands,” said association president Dr. Kris Luscombe. “We are also challenged by a growing number of unattached patients. Through this Shared Agenda, the NLMA will work collaboratively with government to implement solutions that will support and strengthen comprehensive family practice in Newfoundland and Labrador.” The priorities identified in the shared agenda include recruitment and retention, health human resource forecast and planning, collaborative community care teams and emergency medicine services that will lead to permanent and sustainable improvements in family medicine in the province. Many of the projects prioritized in the agenda are already underway. For example, the association and province are currently in mediation to establish a capitation model of payment for physicians. The two groups are also working towards a provincial template for “affiliation agreements” to be used when creating collaborative care teams. Read: Nurse shortage sends some obstetrics patients in Labrador 500 kms away to give birth A recruitment and retention office dedicated to hiring physicians is also near completion, as is a provincial locum recruitment program, according to the joint announcement. A “remoteness index”—to be used for allocating additional funding to salaried doctors in remote site—is also expected to be done soon, with a target completion date of January 31. Meanwhile, the province is looking to develop a health human resource forecast and plan, with a target completion date of October 2023. Another project the two groups are working on this year will focus on reducing physicians’ administrative burden. “Our government has been listening to the issues raised by physicians and we are actively working with the NLMA to make progress on multiple shared priorities,” Tom Osborne, the province’s Minister of Health and Community Services, said in the announcement. “This shared agenda represents a commitment from government and the NLMA to focus our collective resources and energies in the same direction to improve physician recruitment and retention, and achieve better access to primary care for the people of the province.” Read: There's no place at home: Why thousands of Canadian graduates from overseas med schools can't work here

Newfoundland and Labrador doctors sign shared plan with province

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