B.C. trying to recruit U.S. doctors amid Trump health-care uncertainties

In a throne speech marking the start of the B.C. legislative session last week, the government promised it would look to attract U.S. health-care professionals to help fill staffing gaps.

As part of that, it also promised to make it easier for trained health-care workers from other countries to get their credentials recognized.

It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump makes changes to the American health-care system and as political tension rises south of the border. It's a set of circumstances that's causing U.S. health-care professionals to look abroad for work, says a Canada-based recruiter.

Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians are without a without a family doctor, and several rural communities have had to deal with intermittent emergency room closures due to worker shortages.

Health Minister Josie Osborne says she wants to convince Canadian health-care workers who have left B.C. to work in the U.S. or other parts of Canada to return.

"We need health-care workers. We know how hard they work ... and we'd welcome anybody home," she said on Thursday.

A Health Ministry spokesperson said the incoming Health Professions and Occupations Act will speed up the licensing process for professionals trained in other countries. According to the ministry, from January 2023 to December 2024, 1,607 internationally educated doctors received full or provisional registration in B.C.

The spokesperson also said the province has expanded a licensing program, that previously had 32 seats annually, to now have 96 seats per year.

The province's regulatory college has also implemented a "fast-tracked licensure" policy to help people from other Canadian jurisdictions get certified in B.C.

B.C.'s push to add more U.S.-trained health-care workers is proceeding at a time when the new U.S. administration under President Donald Trump has moved to cut back federal health programs and withdraw the country from the World Health Organization. The B.C. Health Ministry spokesperson said that prior to the this latest promise to attract health-care workers from abroad, the province already had efforts active across Canada and internationally, including those branded as Health Match B.C. and B.C. Health Careers.

B.C.'s efforts are even visible in other provinces, said Jill Croteau, who is a doctor recruitment specialist for Ontario's Niagara region and the board chair of the Canadian Society of Physician Recruitment.

Croteau says she's seeing increased interest in coming to Canada among U.S. family doctors, obstetricians and psychiatrist, due in part to U.S. political climate.

"In the last ... few weeks we have had an increase of interest from physicians that are looking to come back to Ontario or looking to move into Ontario," Croteau said.

BC Nurses' Union President Adriane Gear says she supports recruiting U.S. health-care professionals, as well as Canadian professionals currently practicing in the U.S.