When you are hurt or injured in any kind of accident, the last thing you want to worry about is the credentials or lack thereof, of your healthcare practitioner. You trust that all government and educational procedures have been followed, in order to register and provide good quality healthcare services to the public. As a result, we often don’t think about the bureaucracy and politics that affect our health care practitioners. Here, we take a look at a recent plan affecting Ontario doctors in their chosen fields of practice.

The government of Ontario has recently chosen certain areas within its borders as “high need” that require family physicians to expand their abilities to, particularly newly graduated practitioners. This list will be kept current by the Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) and will keep track of these ’in need’ areas that are for the most part rural and remotely located.

Although newly graduated doctors have a choice whether or not they want to practice in these areas, there is a consequence to not following the proposed directive. If a physician chooses to forgo setting up practice in one of these locations, he/she would then have to complete a New Graduate Entry Program. This requires certain objectives to be fulfilled within the first three years of practicing (specifically patient satisfaction, availability, and the successful screening process given and kept with patients).  

A definitive performance criteria has yet to be divulged by the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care and only twenty new doctors will be allowed into the program a month by the governing body.  While the Ministry maintains that this initiative is completely voluntary, it still raises many questions of practicality by those choosing this profession and field of practice.

Other key changes created by the program include:

• Newly graduated doctors would not be paid for any extra shifts in emergency rooms, home visits and any other services outside of family medicine in the first year of their practice.

• Within the first three years of the required practice, new graduates will have a salary cap on the amount they earn.

• The patients available to these doctors need to be unattached in the sense that they cannot be previous patients of doctors within the Family Health Organization.

Some doctors are worried about the effect, in terms of access to health care, that these new requirements may have on the province. They believe that many newly qualified doctors may simply relocate to other provinces in order to make a living or simply change their areas of practice in medicine.

Ontario’s Ministry of Health believes that these new requirements will help new physicians gain the experience needed to take care of their patients without being sidetracked or overworked by other related opportunities in their field. They also believe that it would promote economic activity in these “high need” areas.  In Ottawa, some of these high need areas are listed as Kars, Manotock, Munster and Vars.

People are injured in accidents every day and doctors continue to be in demand in communities throughout Ontario.  At Burn Tucker Lachaîne, our many years of experience in personal injury law has culminated in broad knowledge of all the factors, particularly pertaining to medical issues and negligence case law, that may affect your case.

Our lawyers are compassionate and strive to get the maximum compensation for our clients. We want you to have the financial resources you deserve and need to get your life back on track after a serious injury. In most cases, we can successfully negotiate compensation without going to trial.  The settlement process can be a stressful and trying  time for accident victims and their families, but we will be readily available throughout, to answer questions and keep you informed.  

Give us a call today, and allow us to help you through this time of recovery.