PALMERSTON — The Ontario government is continuing to create new pathways to connect more people to primary care in the province by breaking down barriers for 100 internationally trained family physicians to practice medicine in a rural or northern community in 2025. Through the Practice Ready Ontario program, foreign-trained doctors can become licensed more quickly and connect an additional 120,000 people to care, where and when they need it.
“Our government is continuing to take bold and innovative action to ensure everyone who wants a primary care provider can connect to one,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Through the Practice Ready Ontario program, we are taking another step to connect more people to world-class primary care right in their own communities, now and for years to come.”
The province launched the Practice Ready Ontario program in 2023 to bring more internationally trained physicians into Ontario’s health care workforce faster by removing the requirement to complete unnecessary re-education programs. Starting in 2025, up to 100 internationally trained physicians with training in family medicine who have completed their field assessment will begin practicing as a family doctor in northern and rural communities.
Each internationally educated physician who participates in the program is required to complete a 12-week assessment to ensure they have the skills and competencies needed to practice in Ontario. This program also requires physicians to complete a three-year return of service as a family doctor in a rural or northern community. To ensure they are prepared for their return of service, the assessment includes training in all aspects of rural family medicine across a variety of practice settings. This includes an office, hospital, emergency department, and long-term care and home care settings.
The new Practice Ready Ontario program builds on the considerable investments the government is making to close the gap for the remaining 10 per cent of people who want to connect to a primary care provider, including increasing the number of primary health care teams and making the largest expansion of medical schools in over a decade.
As announced in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the province is investing an estimated $88 million over three years to expand Learn and Stay grants for 1,360 eligible undergraduate students who commit to practice family medicine with a full roster of patients once they graduate. It is estimated the total investment will connect an additional 1.36 million people to primary care based on average attachment rates for family doctors. The funding will cover all tuition and other direct educational costs like books, supplies and equipment in exchange for a term of service as a physician in any community across Ontario.
Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to grow the province’s highly-skilled health care workforce and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care closer to home for generations to come.