Physician Resource Management
We need more physicians.
Canada has one of the worst doctor-patient ratios in the developed world (2.2 physicians per 100,000). As a result, many Canadians struggle to obtain timely and consistent health care.
In New Brunswick, more than 50,000 people do not have a personal family physician. Thousands more wait months and sometimes years for consults and medical services requiring specialists.
The New Brunswick government has manages the number of medical practitioners in the province by limiting the issuance of new Medicare billing numbers. A physician must obtain a Medicare billing number in order to get paid for providing publicly-funded services. New Brunswick is the only province in Canada to impose these kinds of limits on physician resources.
The New Brunswick Medical Society support eliminating the cap on the issuance of Medicare billing numbers.
New Brunswick has a chronic physician shortage. The cap on the issuance of Medicare billing numbers remains a disincentive to establishing a practice in New Brunswick.