Dear editor,
I’m writing to inform you of my recent resignation from the CPSO. Actually, I’m not resigning, I just couldn’t justify keeping my medical license in Ontario.
I’m a rural family physician with extra training in anesthesiology, and I love what I do. My wife grew up in northern Ontario, but we’ve recently settled in Camrose, Alberta. Like many families, our summer holidays are typically spent visiting my in-laws – mine live in the small town of Devlin, ON. They’re great folks, and we always enjoy our time in “lake country”. During those extended vacations home, I pick up locum work in the surrounding small towns. I’ve practiced anesthesia in Fort Frances and clinic work just down the road in Emo. I’ve even worked a few days in Kenora while visiting my brother-in-law. The locum work keeps me busy while my wife gets her “family fix”, and it also helps pay for the trip – Ontario’s rural physician locum program reimburses a portion of our travel expenses and accommodation. Win-win for everyone.
The trouble has been with the College of Physicians of Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), the regulatory body responsible for granting licenses to all doctors in Ontario. Unfortunately, a medical license costs about $2000 per year, regardless of whether a doctor works one day or every day. Just applying for this license was a headache – another couple thousand dollars in application fees, in addition to countless hours of paperwork and references. Since then, when the annual fee becomes due each year, it has become harder to justify swallowing such a big cost for one week of work per summer. In fact, my earnings barely cover the cost of the license itself. Many other provinces have locum licenses with reduced fees, to help recruit and retain physicians to underserved rural areas. PEI now covers the cost of application fees in addition to the annual locum license – a huge boon for getting physicians to work there. Unfortunately, my wife’s home province doesn’t offer this option.
As such, I wanted to let you know that I won’t be renewing my CPSO license this year. As much as rural Ontario is desperate for physician coverage, I can’t justify the financial loss to continue working there during our summer vacation.
A national medical license would certainly solve this problem – one license to work anywhere in Canada – but this has been a political pipe dream for decades. Short of that, another solution would be for the CPSO (and all other provincial regulatory bodies) to offer inexpensive medical licenses for short-term locums. And while they’re at it, can we streamline the application process? A physician with a valid license in one province should easily be able to obtain one in another province.
Our healthcare system is struggling terribly to provide adequate physician coverage in rural areas; the inflexible licensing system of the CPSO has made this difficult problem even worse. My sincerest apologies to the communities of northern Ontario – I’ve really enjoyed caring for you these last few summers. Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, I’m out.
Sincerely,
Dr Bryden Russell
Camrose, AB
CPSO #115044
