The Provincial Government, along with the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA), today announced a one-year pilot program to help entice retired family physicians to come back to the workforce.
Through this program, the Provincial Government will cover the cost of licensing fees and liability protection for eligible retired family physicians, as well as provide a pro-rated rural retention bonus for physicians in eligible communities for every month of service they provide under this program. Additionally, the NLMA will waive membership fees for currently retired physicians who opt to return to practice under the program.
To be eligible, a retired physician must have practiced a minimum of 120 days within the last three years and meet other applicable requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador. Under the program, the physician will be required to provide a minimum of 30 days of service.
An application and contact information for the program can be found here.
This is the latest collaborative initiative between the Provincial Government and the NLMA in their collective effort to address the family physician shortage in Newfoundland and Labrador. Other recent measures can be found in the backgrounder below.
Quotes
“We continue to work with our health care stakeholders to find creative solutions to the family doctor issue in the province, and thank them for their partnership. This is one more item among the suite of measures we have been implementing over the past while to address this crucial shortage. Every additional family physician we can add to the collective for the province is a win for residents. This is the latest step as we work toward our longer-term health care recruitment and retention goals.”
Honourable Andrew Furey
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
“Our most recent initiative aligns with a number of others we have put in place to help deal with the health care professional recruitment and retention challenge before us. It is important that we continue to work collaboratively with the NLMA and all of our stakeholders to develop these solutions. It is our hope that eligible retired family physicians will answer the call.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services
“This new program is part of an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach to help stabilize medical services in the province. We need multiple tools in our recruitment toolbox, and this is one additional measure to help add capacity to the health care system. The NLMA looks forward to ongoing discussions with the provincial government to develop additional measures to address shortages in family medicine.”
Dr. Kris Luscombe
President, Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association
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Media contacts
Meghan McCabe
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
meghanmccabe@gov.nl.ca
Laura Thomas
Health and Community Services
709-729-6986
laurathomas@gov.nl.ca
Jon Carpenter
Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association
709-691-0928
jcarpenter@nlma.nl.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Recent Measures to Address the Shortage of Health Care Professionals
- Committed to a suite of measures to expand the supply of health care professionals: creation of new Collaborative Team Clinics; increase in virtual care services to assist with the provision of urgent care; commitment to further increase the number of graduates from Licensed Practical Nursing Programs by 40 per cent, and Personal Care Attendant Programs by 20 per cent.
- Two new programs launched to support family doctors in the province and help improve access to primary health care:
- The New Family Physician Income Guarantee initiative guarantees a minimum income equivalent to that of a salaried family physician to new family doctors who bill on a fee for service basis and open a family practice clinic – or join an established clinic – for the first two years of their practice. This will ease some of the uncertainty associated with the business aspects of opening a clinic by increasing financial certainty. Funding recipients will be required to enter into a two-year return-in-service (RIS) agreement with government.
- The Family Practice Start-Up Program will provide $100,000 to new family practice physicians who open a family practice clinic, or join an existing family practice in the community, and stay in the practice for five years. Recipients who are approved for both programs must sign a five-year RIS agreement with government. Additionally, both programs will be linked to establishing a patient roster in the community, as well as the provision of after-hours care.
- Initiatives announced in March 2022 to address the challenges facing nurses in the province, including the nursing think tank; RFPs for core staffing review, health HR plan, workforce research; and an Internationally Educated Nurses Bursary.
- A new Assistant Deputy Minister for the recruitment and retention office has been hired and the office has been established within the Department of Health and Community Services.
- An additional five undergraduate seats have been added to the MUN medical School for Newfoundland and Labrador students.
- Launched Extraordinary Every Day, a health care campaign aimed at recruiting and retaining health care professionals.
- Staffing in the Regional Health Authorities has been enhanced to further support recruitment and retention efforts.
- A number of financial incentives and employee supports have been implemented to help address the immediate nursing workforce challenges and help stabilize the workforce.
- Compensation rates for covering ERs in smaller rural health centres (category B facilities) have been increased as a temporary measure until October 31, 2022 to help retain existing physicians at these sites, as well as attract other locum physicians during periods of vacancy. As well, in Labrador, Category A rates were increased in the last MOA agreement.