B.C. aims to poach U.S. doctors and nurses by highlighting 'uncertainty and chaos' south of the border

British Columbia has turned its eye toward luring doctors and nurses from the United States to move north in what Health Minister Josie Osborne is calling an "unprecedented" recruitment opportunity.

Osborne says the province is changing its licensing rules so U.S.-trained doctors can begin practising in B.C. right away, without any need for further assessment, exams or training.

She said there will be a similar scale-back of the barriers facing U.S.-trained nurses and that a marketing campaign will be unveiled in Washington, Oregon and California within the next few months.

"With the uncertainty and chaos happening south of our border, we have an unprecedented opportunity to attract skilled health-care workers interested in moving to Canada," Osborne said in a statement.

She was more blunt in comments to reporters on Tuesday.

"Whether it's because their federal government is withdrawing from the World Health Organization, cutting public services or attacking reproductive rights, health professionals in the U.S. have a good reason to be alarmed," she told a news conference.

"This provides an opportunity for B.C. to send a clear message to doctors and nurses who are working in the U.S. Now is the time to come to British Columbia. We will welcome you to our beautiful province where together, we can strengthen public health care … and build healthy communities." 

She said the province would also promote opportunities in rural and remote communities facing shortages of health-care workers.

Osborne rejected concern that the campaign may risk further aggravating U.S. officials during an escalating trade war between Canada and the United States.

"It's a great time for people to consider moving to a place where they feel supported, where they feel welcomed, and where they know that they're going to have the kind of colleagues beside them to support them in this work," she said.

The province says the recruitment campaign will build on the success of recent changes made to its payment model for family doctors, first put into place in February 2023. Since then, Osborne says, 1,0001 new family doctors have started practising in B.C., with a "record number" of residents — 250,000 — attached to a primary care provider in 2024. 

Unlike the traditional fee-for-service system, the new model blends a salary-like payment structure with compensation based on time spent with patients and the complexity of cases, according to the B.C. health ministry.

On average, the province says the model would boost a family physician's salary to $385,000 a year, up from roughly $250,000.

In its own statement, Doctors of B.C. said the new payment model is "already showing results," with president Charlene Lui calling it a "vital step in attracting doctors to B.C. and keeping them in family medicine which helps to attach more patients."