Doctor ranks in province growing steadily
The number of doctors in Saskatchewan is increasing, but it’s still tough to find a woman physician.
There were 2,282 doctors in the province last year, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year, according to Physicians in Canada, 2016 — a new report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
The increase of doctors in the province was more marked between 2012 and 2016, when the total number of physicians in the province increased 16.1 per cent — from 179 doctors per 100,000 people to 197 per 100,000 people.
“It’s been fairly steady growth over the last five years, which has been interesting relative to the rest of the country,” said Geoff Ballinger, CIHI’s manager of physician information.
Dr. Joanne Sivertson, president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association, attributes the increased number of physicians in the province in part to the concentrated efforts of the Physician Recruitment Agency of Saskatchewan.
“We’re also seeing more of our grads staying in province,” Sivertson said. “That’s really exciting because we know that homegrown physicians are more likely to stick around and continue to be not only recruited, but be retained in the province.”
Between 2015 and 2016, there was an increase of 28 doctors in Saskatchewan who came from Canadian faculties of medicine and an increase of 20 who were trained outside of Canada, Ballinger said.
He noted Saskatchewan has the highest proportion of foreigntrained physicians in the country.
“In 2016, it was about 52 per cent of physicians who were trained outside of the country,” Ballinger said.
While the overall number of physicians increased, Saskatchewan was among three provinces reporting the lowest percentages of women doctors in their workforce (34.7 per cent). Only Prince Edward Island was lower at 30.6 per cent.
Sivertson expects that will change in the coming years as a higher percentage of females enter medical school in Saskatchewan.
“But of course, it takes time for that to filter up,” she said.
Saskatchewan is still fairly dependent on international medical graduates, who are more often males, Sivertson added.
CIHI reports the average ages of specialists were youngest in Saskatchewan (47.9 years) and Alberta (48.1 years).
Saskatchewan family physicians were also among the youngest (48.1 years). Only family doctors in Yukon (46 years) and Alberta were younger (47.6 years).
Sivertson believes the economic climate in the province over the past five to 10 years has been a factor in attracting young blood.
“Saskatchewan was finally one of the better places to set up shop, not only for physicians but for their spouses,” she said. “If you can offer work to a physician’s spouse, you’re more likely to get that physician to come and stay.”
The CIHI report also outlined physician payment.
Total clinical payments to physicians in Saskatchewan in 2015-16 were $803 million, an increase of 3.7 per cent over the previous year.
During the same time period, the average gross payment per doctor in Saskatchewan was $354,000 — a decrease of three per cent from the previous year ($365,00).
“We basically take those total payments and divide it by the number of physicians who are billing to the system,” Ballinger said. “In that year, the growth in the number of physicians who were billing the system increased faster than the total payments.”
Sivertson said the way physicians are working and are paid is not sustainable long term, and is not in the best interest of patients.
“We’re going to continue to try to modernize the schedule so that we are rewarding people for doing the right kind of work and not just demanding volume,” she said. “There’s more to health care than the numbers of patients people see. If we can do it right, hopefully we will be able to continue to attract physicians.”