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/CommunityHHR Challenges

SUPP

LYD

EMA

ND

SUPPLY AND DEMAND INTEGRATED

Core Values• Client-Centredness • High Quality Outcome

• Best Possible Return on Public Investment (RPI)

Individual Challenges(Health Professionals and their personal network)

• 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

Community Challenges(Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, Hospital,

FHT,CHC, etc.)

• Finding Clinical Care Providers · Permanent · Locum• Community Marketing Assistance• Regulatory College Policy & Practice• Retention Assistance

• 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

What is a Locum?

6

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

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

• 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: Rural Family Medicine Locum Program (RFMLP)

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

• 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 Program (CPP)

Community Partnership Coordinators1. 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)

http://www.healthforceontario.ca/Jobs/MarketingandRecruitment/practiceu.aspx

Practice U: A Practice Primer for Physicians in Ontario

• 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

HFOJobs Website: www.HFOJobs.ca

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/uap/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/guidelines/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 speech-language 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/uap/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