More Doctors + More Jobs= BETTER HEALTHCARE = BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE

= BETTER ECONOMY

Patient Access to Physicians in the

Okanagan

200000

210000

220000

230000

240000

250000

260000

270000

280000

2003 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Physician Access

Has a regular medical doctor (46) Contact with a medical doctor in the past 12 months (47,48,88)

Source: Statistics Canada(CANSIM) Health Indicator Profile http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26

Emergency Room Visits Increasing

Source: Kelowna General Hospital Facility Profile 2013 prepared by Sharon McMillan https://www.interiorhealth.ca/AboutUs/QuickFacts/PopulationLocalAreaProfiles/Pages/default.aspx

Further Demand from Aging Popn

Source: Central Okanagan LHA Profile 2013 prepared by Emily Watt https://www.interiorhealth.ca/AboutUs/QuickFacts/PopulationLocalAreaProfiles/Pages/default.aspx

Physician Supply in the Okanagan

2008, 374

2009, 4112010, 424 2011, 424

2012, 450

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Okanagan

FA

MIL

Y P

HY

SIC

IAN

S

Physician Supply 2008 to 2012

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) http://www.cihi.ca/

Family Doctors per 100,000

Okanagan vs BC

BC

Okanagan95

100

105

110

115

120

125

130

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

BC

Okanagan

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) http://www.cihi.ca/

Okanagan Physician Vacancy Rate

is 8 times the Lower Mainland Rate

Source: Health Match BC http://www.healthmatchbc.org/

Aging Physician workforce

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) http://www.cihi.ca/

Increasing Percentage of Female

Physicians

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) http://www.cihi.ca/

Canadian Doctors Retiring

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) http://www.cihi.ca/

There is a significant physician

shortage in the Okanagan

Kelowna &

Kamloops

listed as the

top BC Cities

looking for

Physicians in

Canada

Who is there to help?

Four Silos for Physician Recruitment

– Don’t talk to each other!

For Example, IH produced a 20 page Guide to Long-Term Physician Recruitment and

Retention (April, 2014) but did not consult the other players in its development.

How can the EDC help?

IH needs Physicians

UBC trains physicians

Division coordinates physicians

Bring the Silos together for the sake of recruiting more

physicians!

What’s in it for the EDC?

“Public and private sector informants have suggested that health

research, biotechnology, health care and the health related

industry have the ability to become a leading or main economic

driver in the Central Okanagan.” – EDC Report on Economic

Development in the Okanagan

But EDC has no Healthcare partners listed in their active

partnerships! (see Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission 2014 Strategic.)

Recruit active partners in the local Healthcare sector!

Doctors create jobs!

“The bottom line is that the family practice physician will generate $889,156 in income (wages, salaries and benefits) in the community and create 22.9 jobs throughout the community.” – (The Economic Impact of a Rural Primary Care Physician and the Potential Health Dollars Lost to Out-migrating Health Services)

“Ontario’s doctors create a significant amount of economic benefit via their spending on practice overhead.

Each Ontario physician supports approximately four full time jobs in Ontario’s economy, generates about

$205,000 in GDP, and over $50,000 in tax revenues for various levels of government.”

Impact of physician practice overhead spending on the Ontario economy. Boris Kralj, PhD, OMA Economics Department, Ed Mansfield, PhD, MNP LLP

Economic Impacts of Physician

Practice Start Ups

Source: Ontario Medical Association http://www.oma.org

Next Steps

Gather the key organizations together to

work out some joint strategies.

Involve local physicians in the process right

from the beginning.

Connect Medical Students into your

Okanagan Young Professionals program.

Summary

There is a significant shortage of Family Doctors in the Okanagan.

The shortage has the potential to develop into a crisis that is not

easily solved.

Proactive action to prevent the crisis is needed.

EDC can provide leadership by bringing important players together

to develop strategies to recruit and retain doctors.

This will not only benefit the medical well being of the community

but also the economic well being by providing spin off jobs.

The time to act is now before the problem gets worse!

Audio for the presentation can be found here.

Mike McLoughlin and Dr. Sue McLoughlin,

founded Medi-Kel Family Practice and Walk In

clinic in 2001. Since then the business has

recruited over 10 family physicians to the

Okanagan and serviced over 85,000 patients in

three different clinic locations in Kelowna. Medi-

Kel currently has one clinic operating inside the

Real Canadian Superstore with four full time

physicians. We are open seven days per week.