Recruiters say more U.S doctors, health-care workers are looking to move to Canada

A growing number of physicians is considering moving to Canada.

Nova Scotia Health conducted a campaign in November to attract United States health-care workers to the region, generating more than 500 nursing leads and five new hires.

“The purpose of the campaign was to heighten our engagement directly with the U.S leads as a direct result of the current political climate. We are seeing this as an opportunity and we have tangible success stories that have confirmed the value that this campaign has,” says Laura O’Brien, Nova Scotia Health manager of recruitment services.

“We are learning from the high interest that our recruitment efforts are working, health-care professionals and nurses are worried about the uncertainties in the American health-care system. The interest has been so, so much more and we are taking advantage of that.”

Nova Scotia Health says it received 65 serious inquiries from U.S. health-care workers that asked about licensing

“What’s been great so far in seeing the results from this campaign is that we are seeing experienced nurses and experienced health-care workers. As recruiters here in Nova Scotia, student engagement is one of our top priorities but it is great to have as many graduates as we possibly can but we need those experienced professionals as well and this is giving us an opportunity to leverage that,” says O’Brien.

Health-care workers could be looking to leave the United States for a variety of reasons, but Nova Scotia Health believe politics is playing a part.

“The number one reason is they are feeling uncertain, they’re feeling very uncomfortable depending on their current situation and how they are being portrayed. And I think they just don’t see a future for themselves anymore in that country,” says O’Brien.

Roughly 30 per cent of the province’s recruitment is international and Nova Scotia Health has seen a recent uptick in interest from the U.S.

“It really started in March of 2023 when Nova Scotia became the first province to allow U.S board-certified physicians to practice in Nova Scotia with additional certifications, so we saw an uptick then and really double the numbers of U.S physicians,” says Katrina Philopoulos, Nova Scotia Health physician recruitment director.

A digital marketing campaign is also being credited for the uptick.

“We have had a good pool of physician leads from the U.S that we have been working with over the years that we have built and a lot of that is relationships that we have built, through attending conferences, hosting webinars and doing digital marketing campaigns like this one that we did. I think that what we have seen is a little bit of an uptick as of late,” says Philopoulos.

As of March 13, there were 146 U.S physicians that engaged during the campaign. The team interviewed 62 candidates and had serious talks with 27 of them.

Seven were interested in the locum program, six in the licensure process, one is pending a site visit, and one offer was made and accepted.

“Some physicians have certainty that are in specific specialties that it’s obvious that they are concerned about how they are going to practice in the U.S in the future and are interested in choosing Nova Scotia as a place to be,” says Philopoulos.

Doctors Nova Scotia says the demand for family physicians continues to rise.

“The waiting list also to see a specialist is too long to have and an investigation to have and getting a longer waiting list,” says Dr. Gehad Gobran, president of Doctors Nova Scotia.

Gobran says 24 per cent of physicians are close to retirement so they are happy U.S. doctors want to come to Nova Scotia.

“The family doctors are very busy, not only in their clinics but also family doctors working in walk-in clinics are very, very, extremely busy. Not enough walk-in clinics for patients to be seen, hard to get a family doctor, and too much pressure on the emergency as well, so it is very important to have more family doctors and support them,” says Gobran.

The New Brunswick Department of Health says they have also been actively recruiting from the United States.

Sean Hatchard, communications officer with the department, said they are specifically recruiting for “hard-to-fill physician specialist positions, and are increasing these activities in 2025,”.

“We attended recruitment events in Philadelphia and New York late last year, and plan on attending more this year,” says Hatchard.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page