N.L. doctor recruitment program was defrauded $450K, but minister remains committed to bonuses
CBC
Newfoundland and Labrador's health department is tightening up its protocols, the police are investigating and the minister says she remains committed to a bonus program for health-care workers following incidents of fraud last year that cost the provincial government $450,000.
Auditor General Denise Hanrahan revealed last month multiple grants totalling nearly half a million dollars were improperly paid out to "external parties posing as Alberta physicians while currently residing in Newfoundland and Labrador."
Hanrahan said the health department reported last summer "three incidents of fraud and one instance of attempted fraud" related to the Medical Services Family Practice Start-up Program.
The program offers signing bonuses of up to $150,000 for physicians entering a fee-for-service family practice for the first time, and physicians from another province who relocate to Newfoundland and Labrador to establish or join a clinic in the province.
Recipients of the grant must agree to a five-year service commitment.
The AG's report on the audit of the province's financial statements for 2025 said the applicants were "ineligible for the bonus," and a plan to recover the money "has not been determined at this time."
Both the RCMP and the RNC confirmed to CBC News an investigation is underway.
What's not clear is whether those "external parties" are licensed physicians in the province, and Health Minister Lela Evans had this to say when asked if they were.
“I don't think doctors are jeopardizing their licence and their ability to practice by committing fraud. So it's highly unlikely, but I will not know until the investigation is finalized," she told CBC News.
When pressed on whether the fraudsters were non-physicians, Evans replied: "I don't know that," and added she is waiting for the results of an ongoing police investigation.
"It would be reckless for me to speculate," she said.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association is the professional organization that represents physicians. The association has not been briefed on the bonus fraud incidents, said NLMA communications director Jonathan Carpenter.
Carpenter said the NLMA has no information indicating the individuals involved are physicians in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The improper physician bonuses were paid out last year, before the PCs came to power following last October's provincial general election.
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