41 new physicians hired in 2024; Two new hires in 2025

PEI strengthens the healthcare system with 41 new physician hires in 2024, including 13 specializing in family medicine, helping to address the demand for primary care and reducing the number on the patient registry. So far in 2025, two new physicians have been hired with early 2025 start dates.

PEI signed agreements with 43 physicians between January 1, 2024 and January 31, 2025. Of these, 31 have already started practicing, 11 are set to begin in 2025, and one will start in 2026.

“These new physicians bring a wealth of expertise and dedication to our healthcare system. Their addition reflects our ongoing efforts to provide quality healthcare and meet the diverse needs of Islanders. We recognize that recruitment and retention are ongoing challenges in today’s healthcare landscape and are looking at innovative solutions to ensure our patients receive the care they need.”

- Mark McLane, Minister of Health and Wellness

The province’s 41 physician hires for 2024 offset 20 physician departures, due to various reasons (13 retirements, 5 resignations, and two deaths), resulting in a net gain through proactive recruitment that reinforces its commitment to high-quality patient care.

CIHI’s 2023 State of the Health Workforce showed that PEI is currently outpacing national growth trends for family physicians. Data shows that PEI has seen a 6.3% increase in family physicians for 2021, 4.1% in 2022, and 5.8% in 2023 while national growth slowed to 1.4% in 2021, 1.8% in 2022, and -0.1% in 2023.

In addition to making across board investments in all specialties through the physician’s services agreement, including PEI becoming the first province in Canada to recognize family medicine as a specialty, the agreement also reduces physicians’ administrative burden by moving from more than 450 fee codes to just 31. It further supports physicians in moving throughout the system based on where they are needed the most, and includes nationally leading benefits focused on work-life balance, all of which will continue to be instrumental for recruiting and retaining physicians.

Media contact:
Morgan Martin
Senior Communications Officer
Health and Wellness
mxmartin@gov.pe.ca
(902) 218-3430

Backgrounder

Number of hires by department/specialty  

• Anesthesia - 2
• Diagnostic Imaging -1
• Emergency Medicine - 2
• Family Medicine & Focus Practice -14
• Hospitalists - 3
• Laboratory Medicine -1
• General Internal Medicine -3
• Medicine – Infectious Disease -1
• Medicine – Cardiology -1
• Medicine – Dermatology -1
• Medicine – Hepatologist -1
• Medicine – Nephrology (Dialysis) - 1
• Medicine – Respirology -1
• Medicine – Neurology -1
• Medicine – Rheumatology -1
• Mental Health & Addictions - 2
• Obstetrics and Gynecology – 1
• Oncology – 2
• Seniors – 2
• Surgery – 2