Physician Services in Rural and Northern Ontario

Ontario’s extensive rural and northern regions face significant and unique challenges in the recruitment and retention of physicians. The goal of this report is to provide an understanding of these communities, and the general practitioners/family physicians and specialists who work there.

The report explores the characteristics of the different rural and northern communities; government initiatives and policies to address rural and northern physician issues; location of training, demographic profile and overall numbers of these physicians in relation to the population they serve; and, frequency of physician turnover. The report also offers several new approaches to the study of Health Human Resources (HHR) and rural issues, which can help to guide HHR policy development and resource allocation.