N.L. announces $75K incentive for physicians to join family care team
Abby Cole | CBC News | Posted: September 5, 2024 9:20 PM | Last Updated: September 5
The province needs 26 more physicians to staff its 23 family care teams
Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister announced a new $75,000 incentive Thursday, hoping to reassign already salaried physicians working with N.L. Health Services to family care teams across the province.
To get the bonus, physicians need to join the family care team for at least one year.
A family care team includes family physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, pharmacists and other health professionals.
The incentive will be available to physicians until the end of the year, Health Minister John Hogan told journalists at a news conference Thursday afternoon. It will also be given to physicians already in family care teams.
There are currently 23 teams, six of which are full-scale. Hogan says the goal is for each team to have two doctors, meaning about 46 physicians are needed. Right now, he said, the province has recruited 20 physicians.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Health Accord, the 2022 blueprint to revamp the province's health system, recommends a total of 35 family care teams throughout the province.
"We need to continue to grow those teams, so we're always looking at ways to do that," Hogan said.
WATCH | John Hogan on why government is spending money to fill family care gaps:
In addition to the $75,000, the province already offers a physician signing bonus, which ranges from $100,000 to $150,000 for a five-year commitment to a family care team.
The incentive is also in addition to family care team physicians' base salaries, which currently range from $200,000 to $215,000.
"When you look at it all, it's a quite lucrative package over five years," said Hogan.
Doctors won't be leaving their patients, said Hogan, adding that if a physician decides to leave their practice, their patients would go with them.
Hogan said this incentive is for retention and recruitment.
"People might choose to move here from all over the country or all over the world to look at the compensation," said Hogan.
While the $75,000 incentive is only available until the end of the year, Hogan said that it will be evaluated, and on Jan. 1, the government will look at other ways to fill vacancies.
"I anticipate that we'll have success with this," he said.
NLMA, RNU frustrated
The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association expressed concern about the incentive plan in a statement Thursday, saying it has the potential to create further instability in the health-care system.
The association's president, Dr. Steve Major, said in a statement that the announcement is also a breach of contract.
"Our contract covers salary scales and retention incentives for all classes of physicians. The only exception is recruitment incentives for doctors not currently employed in the health system," said Major, adding that the money is a one-year raise in pay, not a recruitment incentive.
The Registered Nurses' Union also bared its teeth after the Health Department's latest effort to tackle health-care worker shortages.
Union president Yvette Coffey said they've been advocating for the government to implement nurse practitioner-led clinics to enhance access to public primary care.
"The government's continued reluctance to implement effective, sustainable solutions … is deeply frustrating," said Coffey in the statement.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Dr. Major said his main concern is that this incentive will cause family physicians to leave their practice to join a salaried job with a family care team, which won't help more patients access physicians.
"This is essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul, and may result in harm to patients," Major said.
Jim Dinn, leader of the provincial NDP, echoed his worry.
"If all you're doing is … taking from one, I guess, over-extended practice … and joining them with a collaborative care clinic who has its own roster … will the patients there have access or will they be forced to go to the emergency room?" Dinn asked.
"If this is a chess game, all they seem to be doing is moving pieces back and forth without any end-game strategy."
Progressive Conservative health critic Barry Petten put forward a similar critique in a statement Thursday, saying the incentive will simply shift doctors from private practices to new teams and won't increase the overall number of physicians.
"Province-wide, we're hearing stories of people registering for family care teams but finding that there aren't enough doctors or staff to actually provide the care they need," Petten said.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.