Proposed Amendments to the Medical Act, 2011, introduced for second reading today in the House of Assembly, will make it easier for out-of-province doctors to practice in this province. The proposed changes, which are intended to help attract and retain physicians to practice in the province, include:

• Creation of a new advisory committee made up of two representatives of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, two medical practitioners and one employee of the Department of Health and Community Services to advise the Minister of Health and Community Services on registration of persons.
• Provides the Minister of Health and Community Services (through regulations) with the ability to determine the qualifications, jurisdictions and schools that would allow a medical practitioner registration on the provincial provisional register with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in consultation with the new advisory committee.
• Permitting physicians who do not meet the current requirements for registration, but who have important skills and competencies, to register and begin work until those requirements are met.
• Creating two new registration categories with the College of Physicians and Surgeons to enhance the pool of applicants eligible for licensure in the province.

Through these changes, individuals with the new Associate Registration would be eligible to be the most responsible physician, but would require oversight and sponsorship for the duration of the licence, and could be limited in their scope of practice. Individuals with the new Clinical Assistant Registration would not be eligible to be the most responsible physician, would require oversight and sponsorship for the duration of the licence, and would be limited in terms of their scope of practice. Currently, the Act and its associated regulations only contain two broad categories of licensure: full and provisional.

While expanding the registration criteria is another avenue to attracting more physicians to work in the province, the changes are not intended to have any impact on patient safety, and are not intended to impact individuals currently registered and licensed in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Bill also addresses the ability of medical practitioners to prescribe using electronic means. Currently, practitioners can only prescribe electronically through the Pharmacy Network, and are prevented from using other e-prescribing services such as PrescribeIT, Canada’s national e-prescribing service. Implementation of electronic prescribing offers advantages in patient safety and provider efficiency over traditional paper prescribing.

Quotes
“The amendments to the Medical Act, 2011 will allow doctors with comparable credentials to work in our province more quickly, align with our goal of improving access to health care, and represent another creative means in our continued efforts to recruit and retain health care professionals. If you would go to a doctor in Florida for care, you should be able to trust that same doctor’s skills here in our province. Through Health Accord NL, our government is taking meaningful action across all departments to improve the social, economic and environmental factors that impact our personal health, including better, more timely access to care.”
Honourable Dr. Andrew Furey
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

“The changes we have introduced today allow the province to be nimble in our response to health care recruitment and retention issues. It is not the intention of this Bill to lower the standards for medical practitioners who are registered and licensed in the province, but rather to expand the pool of qualified individuals who can still make meaningful contributions to health care delivery. These legislative changes allow for another avenue to address our challenges.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services

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Meghan McCabe
Office of the Premier
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Health and Community Services
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