Doctors from Canada

[jdobbin]

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/webapp/si...20News&classif=

A Canadian Medical Journal study shows that one in nine Canadian trained doctors have been lured to the U.S.

One in nine trained-in-Canada doctors is practising medicine in the United States, says a study published in Tuesday's issue of the "Canadian Medical Association Journal."

If Canadian-educated doctors who were born in the U.S. are excluded, the number is one in 12 - and the study suggests that luring back some of these Canadian physicians would go a long way towards solving the country's doctor shortage.

While they admit the exodus has abated a bit in the past couple of years, the authors say the impact is as if two averaged sized medical schools in Canada were doing nothing but training doctors for the United States.

If the Conservatives want to assist in easing wait times, they would look at getting some of these doctors back.

[scribblet]

The only way to get them back is to pay them a lot more - are we willing to pay more taxes to do that?

[Wilber]

Doesn't surprise me at all. If your profession is in demand, you can go anywhere you want. 1 in 9 sounds quite reasonable. Around here there are a lot of doctors from Asia and Europe. We probably import more who were trained in other countries than we export.

[blueblood]

This is where I'm going to do a flip flop of sorts concerning my "less gov't interference" stance...

-If the gov't doesn't want doctors practicing in the U.S. they should impose a stiff penalty on graduates from Canadian med. school. They are taking spots from those who would practice in Canada. If one wants to practice medicine in the U.S. there's Universities down south and around the world.

-Open up the private sector and institute a gov't run insurance agency to help pay for it. Having people who can easily afford med. care in the public system takes the spot of those that don't, it's like a boardroom of a fortune 500 company having a business lunch at the soup kitchen for homeless people.

-Have the canada health act set the salaries for health care workers across both private and public sectors at the average healthcare worker rate in the U.S. and adjust the wages for inflation. That way the private sector can't siphon healthcare workers out of the public sector.

I think this should help out our healthcare sector big time.

[jdobbin]

The only way to get them back is to pay them a lot more - are we willing to pay more taxes to do that?

Yes.

Either was it is going to cost us, don't you think?

[jdobbin]

Doesn't surprise me at all. If your profession is in demand, you can go anywhere you want. 1 in 9 sounds quite reasonable. Around here there are a lot of doctors from Asia and Europe. We probably import more who were trained in other countries than we export.

The CMA numbers have been something I have been waiting to see for a few years now. I'd like to see how many we attract as well. Not to mention, how many are waiting to certify in Canada.

[jdobbin]

This is where I'm going to do a flip flop of sorts concerning my "less gov't interference" stance...

-If the gov't doesn't want doctors practicing in the U.S. they should impose a stiff penalty on graduates from Canadian med. school. They are taking spots from those who would practice in Canada. If one wants to practice medicine in the U.S. there's Universities down south and around the world.

-Open up the private sector and institute a gov't run insurance agency to help pay for it. Having people who can easily afford med. care in the public system takes the spot of those that don't, it's like a boardroom of a fortune 500 company having a business lunch at the soup kitchen for homeless people.

-Have the canada health act set the salaries for health care workers across both private and public sectors at the average healthcare worker rate in the U.S. and adjust the wages for inflation. That way the private sector can't siphon healthcare workers out of the public sector.

I think this should help out our healthcare sector big time.

I think that the Canada Health Act setting wages would not be accepted by the provinces. Nor would interference in the university system as such.

I think provinces might accept help in recruitment in the U.S., moving expense help, bonuses, work certificates for American family members and the like.

[Wilber]

The CMA numbers have been something I have been waiting to see for a few years now. I'd like to see how many we attract as well. Not to mention, how many are waiting to certify in Canada.

I think we attract quite a few although certification is a problem. Language skills are probably as big a problem as medical qualifications in many cases.

If we put restrictions on the movement of Canadian trained personnel, of course it would be unethical to try and attract those from other countries.

[gc1765]

If Canadian-educated doctors who were born in the U.S. are excluded, the number is one in 12

To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised that number is not higher.

[Liam]

My last boyfriend was a Canadian doctor. He and his ex-wife moved to the US from Canada for career reasons. She is also a doctor and a pretty brilliant scientist (based on what he's told me and based on the company she works for here in Massachusetts).

I'm not going to comment on Candian v. US healthcare, but I will say that I think there are more opportunities in the US medical field than in Canada's.

[Borg]

It is a free country.

Until the gov initiates a plan similar to obligatory service for certain military trades training - they will do as they see fit.

I am not surprised - doc friend left Canada around '95 and has not been back. He retired this year - claims to have a far better standard of life than he would have in Canada.

He is happy and Canada is the loser.

Approximately 30% personal tax was also a biggie as compareed to the outrageous sums we pay in Canada.

Borg

[jdobbin]

My last boyfriend was a Canadian doctor. He and his ex-wife moved to the US from Canada for career reasons. She is also a doctor and a pretty brilliant scientist (based on what he's told me and based on the company she works for here in Massachusetts).

I'm not going to comment on Candian v. US healthcare, but I will say that I think there are more opportunities in the US medical field than in Canada's.

From a research standpoint that is probably true. What was interesting to note that family doctor who migrated to the States were the least happy about the decision. That is who should be recruited back.

[blueblood]

This is where I'm going to do a flip flop of sorts concerning my "less gov't interference" stance...

-If the gov't doesn't want doctors practicing in the U.S. they should impose a stiff penalty on graduates from Canadian med. school. They are taking spots from those who would practice in Canada. If one wants to practice medicine in the U.S. there's Universities down south and around the world.

-Open up the private sector and institute a gov't run insurance agency to help pay for it. Having people who can easily afford med. care in the public system takes the spot of those that don't, it's like a boardroom of a fortune 500 company having a business lunch at the soup kitchen for homeless people.

-Have the canada health act set the salaries for health care workers across both private and public sectors at the average healthcare worker rate in the U.S. and adjust the wages for inflation. That way the private sector can't siphon healthcare workers out of the public sector.

I think this should help out our healthcare sector big time.

I think that the Canada Health Act setting wages would not be accepted by the provinces. Nor would interference in the university system as such.

I think provinces might accept help in recruitment in the U.S., moving expense help, bonuses, work certificates for American family members and the like.

If the provinces want to screw over the people out of the healthcare system, they're the ones that have to face the voting public. This helps out everyone, the wait times would be reduced, the private boys get to make more profit, doctors get a competitive wage.

[guyser]

IIRC we are attracting more than we are losing. I think it was 2002 that we tripped the mark.

The thing is as I understand it is that the cost of doing business there is pretty high. Med malpractice alone can be very expensive ,negating a huge chunk of money they otherwise would not have to pay in CDA. Again IIRC, the cost for avg med malpractice is around $3000 CDN per year, and avg for say an OB GYN in the Cleveland area is around $80,000US . That is not chump change.

I will have to look up my numbers again, but they left me with a different opinion than one normally holds. It isnt all utopia down there.

That said, if you want to be the best of the best, well then the US is the place to go for most-certainly not all- fields of medicine. Just ask the Docs at Sick Kids in TO.