Supporting Canada's health workers by improving health workforce research, planning and data

The Government of Canada announced more than $47 million federal funding for innovative projects to help support and retain members of the health workforce by improving research, planning and health workforce data.

July 11, 2024

Canada is facing substantial health workforce challenges that threaten the ability of the system to provide timely, equitable, accessible, quality services and care to Canadians. The Government of Canada recognizes the need to improve health workforce research, data and planning and is working collaboratively with partners, including provinces and territories, to support the health workforce and better plan for its future. This is why the Government of Canada announced more than $47 million federal funding for innovative projects to help support and retain members of the health workforce by improving research, planning and health workforce data.

Improving Health Workforce Data and Planning

Health Workforce Canada
Funding: $22.5 million over five fiscal years

Health Workforce Canada (HWC) is a not-for-profit, independent organization and was announced by the Government of Canada as a new centre of excellence in December 2023.

This investment of $22.5 million over five fiscal years will enable HWC to fulfill its mandate to convene and collaborate with health sector partners to advance approaches to current and future challenges by:

• identifying the sector's priority needs in support of perspectives and solutions, working in partnership with Canadian Institute for Heath Information (CIHI) and others to facilitate access to data and information while respecting Indigenous data sovereignty;
• providing insights and guidance to inform effective policy for supply and distribution of the workforce, health equity-based planning, health and mental health of the workforce, and innovations in retention and recruitment; and
• gathering and sharing information on practical solutions and innovative practices to address key gaps and implementation challenges.

HWC is expected to explore the current state, gaps, and opportunities of health workforce data, establish a process to address data fragmentation within and between jurisdictions, and work with partner organizations to develop evidence-based data collection and networks to advance work in priority areas.

This funding to HWC will help ensure health care system partners have access to quality data and tools, are mobilized to address data challenges, and can accurately forecast and plan for future health workforce demands.

Operation and Expansion of the National Registry of Physicians

Medical Council of Canada
Funding: $13 million over five fiscal years

The National Registry of Physicians (NRP) will help provide a more detailed understanding of the number of physicians in each province and territory and enable decision makers to better plan for future workforce needs. This foundational platform is a significant milestone in the integration of health care data in Canada and will enhance labour mobility and support health professionals to work where they are most needed.

Through this project, the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) will work with Medical Regulatory Authorities (MRAs) to begin collecting physician information from across the country and populate that data into the Registry. The NRP will respect privacy rules and regulations, promote data integrity, and further support informed decision making by MRAs.

While MRAs regulate the practice of medicine within provincial and territorial jurisdictions, the NRP will provide a foundational solution for all that brings together data from across the country to one centralized location.

The NRP is in both official languages and its foundation includes a data model with physician profile elements indicating the official languages in which the physician can deliver services. This fundamental capability can facilitate the vitality of official language minority communities. Engagement of participants will occur across Canada, including Quebec.

The NRP is an initiative that seeks to unite health care stakeholders, streamline data collection and sharing, and promote informed decision-making in Canada's health care system.

Optimizing Physician Registration in Canada

Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada
Funding: $331,883 over two fiscal years

This project will support the ongoing efforts of Canada's medical regulatory authorities (MRAs) to optimize physician licensing standards while reducing the licensure-related red tape burden on physicians. The project will support better alignment of standards and coordination of practices across MRAs, which could help facilitate labour mobility for physicians, and improve licensing processes for international medical graduates (IMGs).

The Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FMRAC), which serves the collective interest of MRAs, will work with the Medical Council of Canada on this project which complements the MCC's work on the National Registry of Physicians.

Team Grant: Strengthening the Health Workforce for System Transformation

15 projects along with one Evidence Support and Knowledge Mobilization Hub
Funding: $11,550,546 over three years

Generating evidence on how to organize, finance, manage, train and support an equitable, diverse, and inclusive health workforce is a priority for Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)'s Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR). CIHR is collaborating with partners, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and Michael Smith Health Research BC, to fund solutions-focused research, build capacity, foster knowledge mobilization and support evidence-informed action that will help to create a strengthened, healthy, resilient, diverse and equitable health workforce.

Implementation science refers to the practice of taking an idea and finding out how to make it work in the real world. With this funding, implementation science teams will investigate the implementation, evaluation and spread and/or scaling up of evidence-informed workforce solutions that address system-level challenges (e.g., system organization, governance, accountability, remuneration, capacity building), and aim to strengthen the health workforce.

As part of this investment, an Evidence Support and Knowledge Mobilization Hub will support and help spread the new knowledge identified by the funded teams, ensure knowledge users' rapid access to research evidence and support knowledge exchange among the funded teams and other knowledge users.