Doctors Manitoba recruiting south of border

Doctors Manitoba has taken the unusual step of launching a recruitment drive in the United States as Donald Trump prepares to begin a second term in the White House next month.

“Practice where you are valued and trusted as a physician and the government stays out of the exam room,” states an excerpt from a new ad circulating south of the border.

The campaign — including a new web page, manitobamd.com — targets health-care providers in North Dakota, Florida and other states where abortion and gender-affirming care have become deeply politicized issues. The physician-advocacy organization has taken out ads in medical magazines and newsletters targeted for doctors.

The materials market Manitoba’s low cost of living, competitive pay, friendly reputation, universal health-care coverage and a culture of putting trust and value in both doctors and medical evidence.

“There’s never a conversation (with our members) that doesn’t end with, ‘We need more help,’” said Theresa Oswald, chief executive officer of the professional advocacy organization representing more than 4,000 physicians and medical students.

“This is an opportunity for us to, physician-to-physician, be reaching out to let folks know that if they’re considering working somewhere else because of their concerns about the shift in politics in the U.S., let’s get Manitoba on the map.”

Recruitment and retention work is typically reserved for governments and employers, such as Shared Health and its regional entities.

Oswald said the dire workforce shortage, which is resulting in doctor burnout and morale distress because of the negative impact on patient care, requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.

Doctors Manitoba leaders began brainstorming how to tap into a “relatively untapped” market ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, added Oswald, the former NDP health minister between 2006 and 2013.

One per cent of all registered physicians at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba obtained their medical degrees in the U.S.

Data from the professional college also shows a single U.S.-educated doctor joined during its latest fiscal year.

By comparison, 134 doctors who studied in countries across the globe became licensed last year. Asia was the largest region of origin, followed by Africa and the U.K. and Ireland.

Dr. Alison Carleton and her wife, who also works in the health-care sector, have called Winnipegosis home since late 2017.

The couple was living in Nevada, Iowa, when Trump first led the Republican party to victory, defeating Democratic party candidate Hilary Clinton in 2016.

“I didn’t know Canada was desperate for doctors. I was looking because I wanted a change,” Carleton said.

Combined, the financial challenges of operating a solo family doctor practice in the U.S. and changing political landscape prompted the duo to look for work elsewhere.

“I did a lot of gender-affirming care there, and I would’ve had to leave by now because that was of one our niche markets in my office,” Carleton said.

The family doctor said she and her wife, now a phlebotomist and receptionist at their shared office, looked at the Canadian Prairies on Google Earth and liked what they saw, both from an environmental point of view and its proximity to family who remain in the U.S.

The women have embraced the fast pace of billing in Canada and the livability of their cottage community, located about 380 kilometres north of Winnipeg, she said.

Carleton, who recently entered breast cancer remission, noted she would have had to file for bankruptcy due to medical bills, had they not moved before her diagnosis in 2020.

Roughly a third of working doctors in Manitoba trained abroad and have chosen to build their practice, family and life in local communities, per Doctors Manitoba’s campaign materials.

Oswald noted that American doctors can fast-track their licensing because of the similar training and certification offered in Canada and the U.S.

The advocacy organization has been lobbying the province to target recruitment south of the border in recent years. It has also been advocating for health-care employers to be exempt from doing labour-market immigration assessments — requirements for hiring and sponsoring foreign workers — to cut red tape.

“We’re not trying to work against our government.… We’re just saying there’s some potential for a stronger U.S. pipeline,” Oswald said.

The former Progressive Conservative government signed a two-year contract in the summer of 2023 with a company that specializes in finding international health-care workers and supporting their relocation.

Toronto-based Canadian Health Labs was tasked with recruiting 150 doctors. As of Monday, the firm had yet to add any new professionals to the roster.

The NDP has maintained the contract and pledged to create an office to help internationally educated health-care professionals find jobs and training in Manitoba.

“What type of doctors would want to be leaving? It could be those who are involved in reproductive rights, angry at living in Trump’s regime, especially after the Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. That might be one dynamic,” said Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba.

Roe vs. Wade was the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that established a constitutional right to abortion; the Republican-majority court overturned the ruling in June 2022, turning the authority over to states, many of which have since made abortion illegal.

Reproductive rights were among the contentious issues during the campaign leading up to the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.

Since then, Trump’s approach to health care — particularly his choice of Robert Kennedy Jr. to serve as his health and human services secretary, giving him sway over the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control — has raised concerns in the medical establishment and among a significant number of Americans, in general.

Kennedy is a well-known opponent of childhood vaccinations who continues to claim vaccines cause autism, a suggestion that has been debunked in myriad science-based studies. He is also a proponent of drinking unpasteurized milk, a practice that food scientists have warned against.

Adams called Doctors Manitoba’s ploy interesting. At the same time, he said salaries would be lower here than in the U.S. – although the advocacy organization argues they are competitive when cost of living is taken into account.

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said she supported Doctors Manitoba for taking initiative and seeking to “fill the gap” left by NDP inaction.

The NDP did not respond to Free Press request for comment Monday, and Doctors Manitoba did not provide an estimate for its campaign costs.

– With files from Erik Pindera

This story was originally published in The Free Press. It is republished under a Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.