NOMA Annual Meeting & Conference
Provincial Recruitment and
Retention Programs
HealthForceOntario Marketing and
Recruitment Agency
April 26, 2012
Agenda
•
•
HFO MRA Overview
Ontario Physician Locum Programs
–
–
–
–
•
EDCDP
RFMLP
GPVCLA
NSLP
Community Partnership Program
– Practice Ontario; Practice U; Recruiter U
•
•
•
•
HFOJobs
Ministry Recruitment and Retention Programs
Agency Milestones
Questions/Discussion
Introduction
May 2006, HealthForceOntario (HFO):
Provincial government strategy to ensure Ontarians have access to the right
number and mix of qualified health-care providers, now and in the future
June 2007, as part of HFO, Cabinet establishes HealthForceOntario
Marketing and Recruitment Agency (HFO MRA):
– Repatriate and recruit qualified healthcare professionals into Ontario
– Retain Ontario’s domestically trained health care professionals
– Assist internationally educated health professionals living in Ontario to
become qualified to practise here
– Facilitate the delivery of clinical care through the administration of locum
programs
Ontario’s Health Professional/Community
HHR Challenges
Individual Challenges
Community Challenges
(Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, Hospital,
FHT,CHC, etc.)
• Career Assistance
· Licensing
· Professional Opportunities
· IEHPs Returning to Practice
· Return of Service
· Alternatives Careers
• Immigration Advice
• Locum Opportunities
• Professional and Practice Start-Up Information
• Regulatory College Policy and Practice
• Finding Clinical Care Providers
· Permanent
· Locum
• Community Marketing Assistance
• Regulatory College Policy & Practice
• Retention Assistance
Core Values
• Client-Centredness
• High Quality Outcome
SUPPLY AND DEMAND INTEGRATED
• Best Possible Return on
Public Investment (RPI)
DEMAND
SUPPLY
(Health Professionals and their personal network)
What is a Locum?
• A locum refers to a physician who assumes another physician’s
clinical duties on a temporary basis
• Locums are a valuable component of the physician workforce
because they enable physicians to take time off for vacation, illness,
parental leave or professional development
• Placements may occur informally between physicians or formally
through programs OPLP
• Locums are sought across the province, by various health care
providers and organizations, and in various specialties
• Locums are an important component of retention programs
Ontario Physician Locum Programs (OPLP)
• OPLP contributes to the Government and Agency’s goals:
– Physician recruitment – providing physicians with opportunities to work in a variety of
communities
– Physician retention – providing locum relief to rural and northern physicians in
communities/hospitals
– Access to medical service in eligible communities
• HFO MRA administers locum programs
–
–
–
–
Emergency Department Coverage Demonstration Project (EDCDP)
Rural Family Medicine Locum Program (RFMLP)
General Practitioner Vacancy Locum Coverage Arrangements (GPVLCA)
Northern Specialist Locum Programs (NSLP)
• These locum programs provide:
– Centralized and coordinated locum physician staffing assistance for hospitals,
communities and physicians across the province
– Guidance for hospitals, communities and physicians to promote local solutions for
physician coverage
6
OPLP: Emergency Department Coverage
Demonstration Project (EDCDP)
• October 2006 – created as part of the Government and Ontario
Medical Association’s Emergency Department (ED) Action Plan to
support reliable coverage of EDs across the province
• Provides physician locum coverage to designated, high-need
hospitals that are facing significant challenges covering ED shifts
• Program goals: contribute to keeping EDs open; avert unplanned
closures; support coordinated and aligned ED and HHR strategies
• EDCDP has provided advise and assistance to 96 hospitals since
October 2006
• More than 100,000 hours of ED coverage has been provided to 45
hospitals since October 2006
• A small dedicated team works behind the scenes with physicians,
physician leaders, hospitals, LHINs, etc., to facilitate or arrange
ED coverage and to support long-term stability in ED staffing
OPLP: Rural Family Medicine Locum
Program (RFMLP)
• RFMLP provides temporary, short-term replacement coverage
for the most remote and rural family physicians
• Eligibility is a combination of community Rurality Index of
Ontario (RIO) score and family physician complement
• In 2011/12
– RFMLP supported 218 participating rural physicians in 72 eligible
communities
– With coverage of 4,729 days through 222 locuming family
physicians
• Since April 2008 over 16,700 locum days have been provided
through nearly 4,000 assignments
OPLP: General Practitioner Vacancy
Locum Coverage Arrangements (GPVCLA)
•
The administration of the General Practitioner Vacancy Locum
Coverage Arrangements (GPVCLA) was transferred from the Ministry
to the Agency of April 1, 2012
•
GPVCLA provides replacement support to designated communities
with vacancies in Family Medicine, Family Medicine with Emergency
Medicine and/or Family Medicine with Anesthesia
•
Thirteen northern communities have existing arrangements to receive
approximately 3,235 days of support for locums covering these
vacancies
OPLP: Northern Specialist Locum
Programs (NSLP)
NSLP provides replacement specialist locum coverage in Northern
Ontario communities within designated districts;Algoma, Cochrane,
Kenora, Manitoulin, Nispissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury,
Thunder Bay and Timiskaming
1. Urgent Locum Tenens Program
- For communities that have a specialist complement of two or fewer; or
have specialist vacancies and are actively recruiting full-time staff
2. Respite Locum Tenens program
– For communities that have a specialist complement is three or greater
and are at full complement for that specialty
•
From April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012 NSLP staff approved 1,747
assignments totaling 8,653 days of locum coverage for 26 specialties in 15
communities
•
These services were provided by 362 specialists, 118 of which were new to
the program in 2011/12
Community Partnership Program (CPP)
•
CPP contributes to the Agency’s goals:
– Physician recruitment – assisting communities
– Physician retention – assisting physicians
– Provision of medical services in Ontario
•
Community Partnership Coordinators (CPCs) are situated within
Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) areas across the province
Offer “on-the-ground” recruitment and best practice support to
communities
Strong network of relationships with community stakeholders,
hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations
Accurate and up-to-date information regarding existing and
projected job, locum and elective opportunities across the province
•
•
•
Community Partnership Coordinators
1. Erie St. Clair (Laurie Nash)
2. South West (Brian Tibbet)
3. Waterloo Wellington (Laurie Roberts)
4. Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant
(Jill Cappa)
5. Central West (Kim Wilhelm)
6. Mississauga Halton (Kim Wilhelm)
7. Toronto Central (currently being filled)
8. Central (Charlotte Kirby)
9. Central East (Amanda English)
10. South East (Chris Farley Ratcliffe)
11. Champlain (Chris Farley Ratcliffe)
12. North Simcoe Muskoka,
Parry Sound & North Bay (Alison Braun)
13. North East (Johanne Labonte)
14. North West (Shannon Boulton)
Practice U: A Practice Primer for
Physicians in Ontario
http://www.healthforceontario.ca/Jobs/MarketingandRecruitme
nt/practiceu.aspx
HFOJobs Website: www.HFOJobs.ca
• Comprehensive job search
portal; free for all users
• Search by specialty or
community; permanent or locum
• 325 communities with 2,860
organizations are using HFOJobs
• Currently over 1,800 physician, 490
nursing and 1,100 new nursing
graduate guarantee (NGG) postings
• Since 2007,15,000 nurse graduates
have registered and over 12,000 have
been successfully matched to NGG
positions
MOHLTC Tuition Support
Program for Nurses
• Offers tuition reimbursement to recent nursing
graduates from rural and remote communities
•
Applicants must be new College of Nurses of Ontario
(CNO) registrants who choose to do a return-of-service
(ROS) in an eligible underserviced community
• Open to nurse practitioner, registered nurse and
registered practical nurse graduates who have recently
graduated (as of April 1, 2006), from a Canadian
University or College
• For more information, go to:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/providers/program/u
ap/about/incentives.html
Postgraduate Return of Service (ROS)
• MOHLTC provides postgraduate training and assessment
opportunities for international medical graduates (IMGs), in
exchange for an agreement to provide five years of full time
service in a ROS-designated community in Ontario
• ROS communities are all communities in Ontario, with the
exception of the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa
Northern and Rural Recruitment and
Retention Initiative (N3R)
• Announced March 2010 to assist Northern and Rural communities to
recruit Specialist and Family Physicians
• Grants between $80,000 - $117,600 for communities with a RIO
Score greater than 40 (= all of Northern Ontario)
• Physician must commit to full-time practice in that community
• Grant is applied for by the physician, and the application must be
supported by the community
• Application must be approved by the Northern Health Programs
(NHP) office, Primary Health Care Branch, MOHLTC
• For more information or the grant guidelines:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/providers/program/uap/guidelin
es/nrrri_guidelines.html
MOHLTC Incentive Grant Programs
• Incentive Grants of up to $15,000, paid over three years
• May be available to audiologists, chiropodists,
occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speechlanguage pathologists who relocate to fill positions in
full-time MOHLTC-funded vacancies in Northern Ontario
• For more information, go to:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/providers/program/u
ap/about/incentives.html
Agency Milestones
• Creating Practice Ontario to assist strategic recruitment and retention of
medical residents within Ontario - since 2009 over 2,000 residents registered
and over 600 physicians now working across the province
• HFOJobs, a job portal, represents the majority of the physician and nursing
opportunities in Ontario
• HFO MRA is a subject matter expert for physician employment, licensing, and
immigration in Ontario
• Since 2007 Over 700 IMG clients have been helped by HFO MRA to gain entry
to an Ontario residency program
• The Agency has been integrally involved in the successful recruitment of over
500 physicians to Ontario from outside the province since 2007
• Since January 2008 over 600 Emergency Department closures have been
averted with the assistance of EDCDP
• Since October 2008 NSLP has approved over 6,000 assignments providing
over 30,000 locum days of medical services in Northern Ontario