Supporting Canada’s health workers, improving workforce

OTTAWA – The federal government announced more than $47 million in funding for innovative projects to help support Canada’s health workforce. The money will improve health workforce planning and advance research to better support health workers. It includes:

• $22.5 million to Health Workforce Canada to improve the accessibility of health workforce data and share practical solutions and innovative practices to address key gaps and implementation challenges in health workforce planning;
• $13 million to the Medical Council of Canada to operate and expand the National Registry of Physicians to have a centralized location of streamlined physician data to improve informed decision making in the healthcare system;
• More than $330,000 to the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada to improve physician licensing standards and processes in Canada; and
• $11.6 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and partners, to teams that are investigating ways to strengthen and support Canada’s health workforce.

The announcement was made by Yasir Naqvi (pictured), parliamentary secretary to the minister of Health, and Ahmed Hussen, minister of International Development, while visiting the Medical Council of Canada.

These investments will inform retention and recruitment practices, support the mobility of physicians across Canada to help communities facing shortages, and investigate solutions to strengthen the health workforce and positively impact policy and practice.

The initiatives will also improve how information about Canada’s health workforce is collected, used, and shared to support health employers and governments in the planning of health workforce across the country.

The Government of Canada will continue working with provinces and territories and other key partners to address health workforce challenges. Budgets 2023 and 2024 outlined the government’s plan to invest close to $200 billion to improve healthcare for Canadians, which includes supporting health workforce through retention, recruitment, and planning.