Sask. boosting rural and northern physician recruitment incentive to $200,000 over 5 years

The Saskatchewan government says a planned boost will make the province's program to recruit and retain physicians in rural and northern areas one of the most competitive incentives in the country.

On Wednesday, Premier Scott Moe told delegates at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) convention in Saskatoon that the province is increasing the total incentive in its Rural Physician Incentive Program to $200,000 over five years, starting April 1.

The previous total incentive was $47,000 over four years.

"That will be one of the most ambitious and aggressive rural physician incentive programs that you will find in the nation of Canada," Moe told delegates.

The new five-year incentive is back-loaded over the final two years.

Qualifying physicians would receive $15,000 at the end of each of their first and second years, $20,000 at the end of their third year, and $75,000 at the end of each of their fourth and fifth years, the government said.

It said eligibility for the incentive is also expanding beyond new graduates, and will now include physicians practicing in rural and northern communities who have been assessed through the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment Program (SIPPA).

Physicians excluded from the program include doctors practising in the Saskatoon and Regina bedroom communities of Balgonie, Emerald Park, Langham, Lumsden, Martensville, Pilot Butte, Warman and White City.

Saskatchewan's Rural Physician Incentive Program first launched in 2013-14.

Physicians respond

Dr. Andries Muller, the president of the Saskatchewan College of Family Physicians, said the college is very happy with the announcement and the government's recognition of the role family physicians play in rural and remote areas.

"We're also glad to see that there's recognition for the fact that there is a crisis in family medicine," he said. "And part of that crisis is the recruitment as well as the retention of family physicians in rural and remote areas."

He's also glad the program has been expanded to include internationally trained medical graduates that have gone through Saskatchewan's assessment program.

He said Saskatchewan has had some internationally trained physicians go to a rural areas, but not stay there very long for various reasons — and he hoped this program will help those physicians stay a little longer.

"We know if someone stays in the community a little longer, maybe if they're young and they get married and have children [who] go to the school, they're more likely to put roots down in that community and stay on afterwards," he said.

Muller also said it's a significant amount of money the government is investing.

"I believe it is probably one of the more lucrative programs in the country," he said.

He said the money will help, but it will take making working life more acceptable to physicians in rural Saskatchewan to entice them there and get them to stay.

Dr. John Gjevre, the president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA), said the government's announcement is a "wonderful start" and should help address some longstanding recruitment and retention challenges.

But Gjevre echoed Muller's statements that money is just part of the solution to the problem.

"We do think there there needs to be a change in how we organize and deliver health care, specifically primary care," he said.

"So physicians have support that they need and are not working as solo physicians in isolation."

Gjevre said the SMA is advocating for physician-led, team-based care.

"It's not just about what somebody's being paid, but it's the work environment," he said. "If you have more physicians in smaller communities to share the workload, it's going to be better for everybody."

Record municipal revenue sharing

Moe also announced that municipal revenue sharing in the coming fiscal year will be a record $297 million.

He said 2023-24 provincial funding for the Municipal Revenue Sharing Program will be up 13 per cent from the current fiscal year.

The previous high was $278 million in 2020-21.

The government said that, including this announcement, nearly $4 billion in provincial funding will have been devoted to support urban and rural municipalities through the program since 2007-08.

Provincial funding for the program is based on three-quarters of one point of the provincial sales tax revenue collected from two years prior, it said.

The government said more details will be available when the provincial budget is released next week.