U.S. doctors migrating north

[eridani]

http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2014/june/us-doctors-migrating-north

By Wendy Glauser
CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), June 19, 2014

TORONTO -- With the prospect of greater pay, fewer bureaucratic headaches and the opportunity to provide better care for patients, the number of American doctors migrating north is rising, according to Canadian recruiters and Canadian Medical Association data.

Susan Craig, president of the Toronto-based physician recruiter, Susan Craig Associates, said that Canada is becoming "increasingly attractive," while John Philpott, the Halifax-based chief executive director of Can-Am Recruiting, noted "interest is doubling each year for American doctors" seeking to move north.

Increased pay is the main driver of this interest. Philpott said family physicians, pediatricians and psychiatrists can make $100,000 more in Canada, on average, compared to the U.S.

According to data from the Canadian Medical Association, the number of U.S.-trained physicians grew less than 3% from 1996 to 2005 (up from 493 to 506), but jumped 42% from 2006 to 2014 (508 to 721).

The increase would be much higher, however, if estimates distinguished between specialists and family doctors, as the majority of U.S. physicians crossing the border are in family medicine, said Philpott.

In the U.S., thanks to insurance company loopholes and technicalities, American family physicians aren't paid up to 30% of the time, whereas under a single-payer system, only about 2% of his billings don't covered, explained Dr. Sajad Zalzala, a U.S.-trained family physician who moved to Windsor, Ont., in 2012.