Workload and Physician Accumulation Across Canadian Health Regions

Abstract

Primary care physicians serve an important role in the Canadian health care system, and the recruitment of primary care physicians is often an important policy and political goal. Wide disparities in both physician workload and access to health services exist between Canadian communities and — depending on the relationship between physician workload and migration — physician migration may either reduce or exasperate these disparities. This paper uses data on physician population characteristics, sub-provincial health region characteristics, and usage rates of primary health care services to estimate the relationship between physician workload and the rate of physician migration into a sub-provincial health region. I find that regions with higher average levels of physician workload are associated with a higher rate of physician inflow to the region. It is unclear whether this relationship is the result of physician workload preferences, or public policy decisions.