Addressing Ontario’s Family Doctor Shortage: Where Healthcare, Governance, and Business Intersect

This week on the Voice of Business, we’re tackling an issue that many in Ontario are familiar with, including right here in Peterborough: the growing shortage of family doctors. It’s not just about healthcare—this is something that impacts local businesses, the economy, and thousands of people in our community.

Currently about 2.5 million people don’t have access to a family doctor. Locally, it’s estimated that by next year, around 63,000 people in Peterborough will be in the same boat. Municipalities everywhere are struggling to recruit doctors, often competing in what some have compared to a “Hunger Games” style race—where only the communities with the biggest budgets and best incentives can win. Physician recruiting and retaining is thus a multifaceted issue with several intersecting factors that requires focused policy attention.

With a growing number of people without family physicians we can see the effects where this can unintentionally strain local hospitals. A study by Ontario’s Auditor General found that one in five patients goes to the hospital simply because they don’t have a family doctor. This leads to pressure on emergency services, forcing patients with severe medical needs to wait longer while lower-acuity cases backlog the system. It’s a reminder of what happens when there is an unprecedented family physician shortage.

While many municipalities work to compile family physician recruit teams, it remains a challenge as family medicine can be seen as a daunting and unattractive option for medical students. The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has shed light on this trend: as of 2024, family physicians are paying between 30% and 50% of their income on overhead expenses. For any business owner, seeing nearly half your revenue absorbed into overhead costs is uninspiring—this is no different for family doctors.
The number of family physician vacancies highlight this trend further. Family physician vacancies rose from 30 in 2020 to 108 in 2024. Out of the 560 residency positions for family medicine that year, 108 went unfilled. These vacancies highlight how family medicine is becoming less appealing, not just financially but in terms of workload.
Administrative burdens further exacerbate the issue. Family doctors spend an average of 19 hours per week on paperwork--40% of their total working time. Tasks like processing sick notes consume a large portion of a physician’s work. While the Ontario government has waived the need for sick notes for absences up to three days, many doctors continue to call for their complete removal. This reasoning lies behind the idea that every minute spent on unnecessary paperwork is a minute they could be spending with patients.

Then there’s licensing. Locally, a study from a municipality in Peterborough County found that licensing family physicians can take up to four months. For a region where over 32,000 residents lack a family doctor, streamlining these processes is crucial. Quicker licensing would mean faster access to care and less reliance on overburdened emergency departments.

Peterborough County and the city of Peterborough are doing their part by hiring physician recruitment coordinators to attract more family doctors. Yet, smaller communities like ours face a unique challenge competing with hundreds of other municipalities. Some municipalities such as Bracebridge, St. Catherines and Brockton have attributed this to a “hunger games” approach where the municipality with deeper pockets can present more attractive packages, leaving smaller areas like Peterborough at a disadvantage.

All these challenges point to a bigger issue: the need for decisive government action. While Ontario has made progress—like easing the burden of sick notes for short absences more still needs to be done. Following communication with the city of Peterborough and Peterborough County on their goals to help in recruiting family physicians, the following measures were discussed below:

• Address overhead expenses to make family medicine a more viable and attractive career choice.
• Set fair recruitment standards to create equal opportunities for municipalities to recruit family physicians.
• Streamlining administrative processes to accelerate the timeline for family physicians to receive their licensing to practice.

At the end of the day, family physicians aren’t just healthcare providers—they’re business owners too. Their well-being directly impacts our workforce, employers, and business owners. A stronger healthcare foundation means a stronger community for all of us.