Underserviced Area Program
The Underserviced Area Program (UAP) is one of a number of supports provided by the Ministry to help underserviced communities recruit and retain health professionals. The UAP was established to respond to the need for more health professionals in Northern Ontario. It has gradually expanded its role to address the issue of health human resources in southern communities. Administered by the Primary Health Care Team, this program enhances access to health care services in designated rural and remote areas of the province that have difficulty attracting and retaining health care professionals. It offers a variety of components aimed at attracting and retaining health care providers to underserviced areas in Ontario. To access the UAP's recruitment and retention benefits, a community must be designated as underserviced.
The following initiatives fall under the Underserviced Area Program:
Nursing Community Assessment Visit Program
Through the Nursing Community Assessment Visit Program, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) will provide reimbursement for travel and accommodation expenses incurred by nurses and their spouses who are interested in working in communities designated as underserviced.
The expected benefits of the Nursing Community Assessment Visit Program include:
- enhanced distribution of nurses working in underserviced and rural communities in Ontario;
- increased access to currently available nursing employment opportunities across the province; and
- additional resources for employers to support nursing recruitment.
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Physician Community Assessment Visit Program
This program aims to promote the relocation of health care professionals to underserviced communities. It provides reimbursement for travel and accommodation expenses incurred by health care professionals and their spouse within Ontario, for purposes of assessing practice opportunities in communities reflected on the Underserviced Area Program's (UAP) current Lists of Areas Designated As Underserviced (LADAU) for General/Family Practitioners (GP/FPs), Medical Specialists, and Rehabilitation Professionals.
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Physician Outreach Program for General/Family Practitioners Guidelines
The goal of this program is to provide regularly scheduled primary care clinics to outlying communities with Underserviced Area Program (UAP) funded nursing stations or medical clinics. As well, the program provides direct, 24-hour emergency physician back up to the nurse/nurse practitioner working in UAP nursing stations/clinics.
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Free Tuition Program for Physicians
This program provides up to $40,000 (or $10,000 per year) to final-year medical students, residents, and newly graduated physicians to offset tuition costs in exchange for a full-time return-of-service in an eligible community. Return-of-service opportunities exist across the province from Kenora to Windsor. In addition, the Free Tuition Program has been complemented with the Location Incentive Fund, which may provide Free Tuition recipients with additional financial incentives if the applicant's tuition is less than $10,000 per year.
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Tuition Support Program for Nurses
The Tuition Support Program for Nurses encourages new nursing graduates to work in rural and remote parts of the province. Nurses from rural and remote communities who are new registrants with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) and who choose to work in an eligible underserviced community will be reimbursed for their tuition. If you are a nurse practitioner, registered nurse or registered practical nurse who graduated from a Canadian university or college since April 1, 2006, you are eligible to apply for tuition support.
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Incentive Grant Programs
Health care professionals relocating to designated underserviced communities may be eligible to apply for one of the following incentive grants:
- Incentive grants of up to $40,000, paid over four years, may be available to GP/FPs and psychiatrists who relocate to designated northern communities;
- Incentive grants of up to $15,000, paid over four years, may be available to GP/FPs who relocate to eligible designated southern communities;
- Incentive grants of up to $20,000, paid over four years, may be available to specialists who relocate to designated northern communities. A second grant of $20,000, again paid over four years, under the Northern Medical Specialist Incentive Program, may be available to northern specialists who provide a minimum of 12 days of outreach services per year; and
- Incentive grants of up to $15,000, paid over three years, may be available to audiologists, chiropodists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech-language pathologists who relocate to fill positions in full-time MOHLTC-funded vacancies in Northern Ontario.
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For more information on the Underserviced Area Program, please call 705 564-7280, toll free 1-866-727-9959, fax 705 564-7493 or write to:
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Primary Health Care Team
Underserviced Area Program
159 Cedar Street, Suite 402
Sudbury ON P3E 6A5