Recruitment and Locum Resources

• Ontario Medical Association Physician Human Resources (PHR) Planning Toolkit/Checklist & Practical Considerations with accompanying Infographic
• Ontario Hospital Association Professional Staff Credentialing Toolkit – Chapter 4 contains information on Planning and Recruitment

• An international framework. The Making it Work: Framework for Rural Remote Workforce Stability describes the necessary elements of a strategy to ensure the recruitment and retention of the right professionals to provide needed services in rural and remote locations. View the website or download a brief overview or full framework description
• The Rural Health Service Decision Guide is a 5-step, systematic process to making objective, evidence-based decisions for sustainably delivering health services to rural populations.
• Healthcare Excellence Canada hosts several tools for  Promising Practices for Retaining the Healthcare Workforce in Northern, Rural, and Remote Communities
• Attract Connect Stay is an innovative, community-led solution that supports communities in rural areas with physician workforce challenges. It is running with success in Australia, but was conceived based on work that was initiated in Marathon, Ontario.

The HFO recruitment essentials toolkit is available here:

https://www.healthforceontario.ca/en/Home/All_Programs/Physician_Recruitment_for_Communities/Recruitment_Essentials

The Community Assessment Visit Program

There is funding available to bring physicians and their spouse/partner/family to visit a community to which they may be considering relocation. For more information, check out the program information on the Community Assessment Visit Program webpage.

Recruiting new grads to rural practice

If you are interested in recruiting new grads, there are some things that may be helpful for you to know as a recruiter, and as a physician in practice. A CMAJ article with research findings and some infographics to summarize the findings are linked here:

• Medical Students and Residents
• Physicians
• Recruiters

For 2024, jobconnect.health – a nationwide health care workforce job posting site – is offering free job advertising for positions at health care organizations in Northern Ontario. Create your account, message support@jobconnect.health, and your account will be set to free and unlimited job posts for the rest of the year.

There are a number of tools available to assist with planning for locum coverage.

• Resources for Family Medicine Locums in Rural and Northern Communities (Health Force Ontario)
• Providing Locum Coverage (Health Force Ontario)
• Locum Evaluation Checklist (AMC joule)

These three sites have information about work opportunities in Northern Ontario. You can search by community and by region.

• The Health Force Ontario (HFO) portal lists many work opportunities for physicians. Sign in is required.
• A selection of jobs in the communities of Northern Ontario can be viewed on this site: JobConnect.health. No sign in is required.
• A summary of permanent and locum work for family physicians in Northern Ontario (Last updated: October 2023).
• The Temporary Locum Program (TLP) provides eligible hospitals in rural and northern Ontario the opportunity to offer eligible physicians a temporary premium to maintain 24/7 ED services. This program has been extended to September 30, 2024

Recruitment and retention to Northern and Rural sites:

• The Northern and Rural Recruitment and Retention Initiative (NRRRI):The objective of  the NRRRI is to attract physicians to establish a full-time practice in eligible underserviced communities.
• The NRRRI offers taxable financial recruitment incentives to each eligible physician who establishes a full-time practice in an eligible community of the province. The grants range between $84,718 and $124,730 paid over a four-year period. The financial recruitment incentives will be awarded based on eligibility criteria and considerations related to total NRRRI budget allocations.
• Retention beyond 4 years:  The Northern Physician Retention Initiative (NPRI) was established as an initiative under the 2000 Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Framework Agreement to enable eligible physicians in northern Ontario to receive the equivalent of a $7,460.95 retention incentive paid at the end of each fiscal year in which they continue to practice full-time in northern Ontario.

Working in ER can be daunting, but the ED Peer-to-Peer real time support is available 24/7 to any Ontario ED now through Ontario Health.  Learn more about it on the Emergency Peer Program webpage or through this QR code.

Virtual critical care services support physicians rural ER’s to manage their most critically ill and injured patients.  Through connecting by video conference to the ICU physician on call in the regional referral centre, as well as the air transportation base hospital physician, physicians can optimize care and transportation of their patients.

A summary of permanent and locum work for family physicians in Northern Ontario is available (Last updated: June 2024)

For information about licensure, visit the CPSO website for information for IMGs and registration policies.

Explore alternative pathways to professional practice in Ontario through the Restricted Exam.

For US physicians: A roadmap to navigate alternative practice routes in Ontario.

• Practice Ready Ontario streamlines the process for internationally trained physicians who have completed postgraduate training and have experience of independent practice in family medicine or as a general practitioner outside Canada. There is a video that explains the program.
• Candidate physicians must sign a 3 year Return of Service in a community that has a RIO score of 40 or higher, or one of the Northern Urban Referral Centres (Sudbury, North Bay, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie).
• Visit the Practice Ready Ontario for information about the new assessment and supervision from CPSO for selected IMG’s and supported through Touchstone Institute.

The Ministry of Health recently announced the Nor-Star (Northern Ontario Resident Streamlined Training and Reimbursement) program, which aims to remove barriers to training more physicians in Northern Ontario through the reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs for residents from any Canadian residency undertaking clinical placements in Northern Ontario.

The program consists of three components:

Locum-Learner Dyads	Travel and accommodation reimbursement to medical residents when accompanying faculty physicians from their home institution on locums in the Northeast and Northwest Ontario regions.
Postgraduate Electives Learners	Travel and accommodation reimbursement to medical residents completing electives beginning on or after July 1, 2023 in the Northeast and Northwest Ontario regions.
Residents in the Restricted Registration Program	Travel and accommodation reimbursement to medical residents providing clinical services in the Northeast and Northwest Ontario regions under the Professional Association of Residents of Ontario Restricted Registration Program.

Read more about Nor-Star.

Medical residents can find out more information on the NOSM U Medical Electives website and view what opportunities are available on the new interactive Clinical Electives Catalogue.

For questions or program inquiries, please contact Nor-Star at norstar@ontariohealth.ca.

From beautiful landscapes to unique experiences and exciting work opportunities, Northern Ontario has so much to see and do. Information about some of our communities can be found by visiting our updated interactive map and community profiles. Check out what electives opportunities are available in the new Electives Catalogue.

Have questions? Please reach out to us: physicianworkforce@nosm.ca

Family medicine residents working in an under-served, rural, or remote community in Canada may be eligible for the Government of Canada’s Canada Student Loan Forgiveness for Family Doctors and Nurses program.

• As a resident or family doctor, if you complete at least 400 hours total of in-person service over a 12 month period, you may be eligible for up to $8,000 in loan forgiveness for that year. You could receive up to $60,000 in Canada Student Loan forgiveness over a maximum of five years ($8,000 in year 1, $10,000 in year 2, $12,000 in year 3, $14,000 in year 4 and $16,000 in year 5).
• Your five years of service do not have to be consecutive. If you have a Canada Student Loan balance at the end of each year of service in an eligible community, you can qualify for loan forgiveness for five years.
• For more information about the program, eligibility criteria and application details please view the Government of Canada’s website. To determine if a community qualifies under this program, use the Postal Code Lookup Tool. Find a postal code on the Canada Post website.

Recruitment and retention to Northern and Rural sites:

• The Northern and Rural Recruitment and Retention Initiative (NRRRI): The objective of the NRRRI is to attract physicians to establish a full-time practice in eligible underserviced communities.
• The NRRRI offers taxable financial recruitment incentives to each eligible physician who establishes a full-time practice in an eligible community of the province. The grants range between $84,718 and $124,730 paid over a four-year period. The financial recruitment incentives will be awarded based on eligibility criteria and considerations related to total NRRRI budget allocations.
• Retention beyond 4 years: The Northern Physician Retention Initiative (NPRI) was established as an initiative under the 2000 Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Framework Agreement to enable eligible physicians in northern Ontario to receive the equivalent of a $7,460.95 retention incentive paid at the end of each fiscal year in which they continue to practice full-time in northern Ontario
• The Community Assessment Visit Program promotes the relocation/recruitment of health care professionals to eligible rural and Northern Ontario communities and provide reimbursement for travel and accommodation expenses incurred by health care professionals and their spouse within Ontario for purposes of assessing practice opportunities in an eligible community of the province.

On October 21st & 22nd, 2022, we held our 2nd annual Practice Management & Community Exploration Conference – Finding Your True North: Planning for Your Future Career. Educational sessions and panel discussions for learners, residents and their families focussed on planning electives, future work, and finances and included practical tips.

Check out the event website to view the following:

• Resident Resources, such as the SGFP Billing Cheat Sheet and a description of supports available to OMA members
• Locum resources
• Conference presentations
• Did you know tip sheet from the OMA about OMA-MOH negotiated programs
• Community information and opportunities

Interested in what the 2021 conference and job fair had to offer?

Learn about communities and what they have to offer under Community Visit Rooms.
See what opportunities were highlighted at the conference.
View presentation materials.