Rural communities boost incentives to attract medical staff

As small communities across Ontario struggle to recruit doctors and nurses, one town has landed on a strategy that appears poised for success: giving them "a bag of money up front."

That's the incentive on offer in Huntsville, Ont., where local authorities say they will give an $80,000 signing bonus to any family physician who agrees to work in the town for at least five years.

Other communities are using similar tactics.

Blanche River Health in Kirkland Lake, a municipality in eastern Ontario, is offering $2,000 to anyone, anywhere in the world, who successfully refers a doctor or nurse to work at the hospital.

In Dryden, Ont., an isolated town more than 1,700 kilometres northwest of Toronto, the regional health centre's long-running doctor bonus scheme currently includes $37,500 for help with relocation expenses. Combined with separate provincial grants, doctors moving to Dryden could be given up to $155,000 for a four-year commitment.

Health experts warn that while these initiatives are understandable given the acute doctor shortages facing Ontario communities, they risk fuelling a "Hunger Games"-style competition for medical staff, putting further pressure on already cash-strapped municipalities.

Bob Stone is the local councillor who spearheaded Huntsville's new bonus initiative.

The plan, approved by council in May, hopes to attract 10 physicians.

Two months in, Stone said seven doctors have expressed interest and several are close to signing contracts.

"It is already working, and we are so excited and as soon as we actually have a contract signed, we are going to be telling the whole world," he said.

Stone explained that Huntsville faced urgency to act. With waitlists for doctors growing longer, and several working doctors due to retire, almost a third of the town's 21,000 people risk not having a family doctor, he said.

Under the terms approved by council, any doctor taking over an existing practice gets $60,000. Doctors who open a new practice are given $80,000. The funds come from the municipal budget, Stone said.

"We're giving them that bag of money up front because that's what's really going to be the hook to get them to move here," he said, adding the bonus is tied to a five-year commitment.

Jorge VanSlyke, president and CEO of Blanche River Health, which serves Kirkland Lake, said its community referral scheme has led to rising inquiries about available opportunities, but noted it was too early to tell if the program will work.