2025 MCC Annual Meeting focuses on inclusive health care  

The subjects of inclusive and equitable health care figured prominently at the Medical Council of Canada’s (MCC) 2025 Annual Meeting. Held on October 6 and 7 at the MCC’s Ottawa headquarters, the event welcomed members of the MCC’s Council and drew participants from a variety of partner organizations. Attendees heard inspiring remarks from The Honourable Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia and The Honourable Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler, senators, on the importance of diversity in clinical care, a heartfelt reminder of the discrimination many in the Indigenous community face when accessing health care from Youth Knowledge Keeper Ms. Kyrstin Dumont, and a keynote address from Dr. Jane Philpott, who stressed the importance of setting ambitious goals, drawing on data, and challenging the status quo as a means to improve access to care for Canadians.

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The 2025 Annual Meeting also included a series of breakout sessions, facilitated by leaders from the MCC, along with those from international partner organizations, all of which generated lively discussion among attendees:

Optimizing Practice-Ready Assessment (PRA) decisions using competency review committees

Dr. Jason R. Frank and Dr. Maxim Morin

In this interactive session, participants discussed the current state of PRA program activity in Canada and learned more about workplace-based assessment (WBA), as well as the role it can play in helping PRA programs make informed decisions about physician competence. After watching a video of a physician engaging with a patient, participants graded the doctor’s overall competence from zero to 10, deciding whether he had the skills to practise safely. With attendees quickly acknowledging the challenge of making an informed decision with insufficient data, the discussion turned to the importance of setting assessors up for success.  Presenters Dr. Jason R. Frank, the MCC’s director of Competency-Based Assessment and Dr. Maxim Morin, executive director, Assessment, then spoke to the background, benefits, and drawbacks of the competency-based assessment (CBA) model now being used by some PRA programs through WBA.

While more traditional preceptor-based models immerse physician candidates into medical practices for direct observation by one or two assessors who then complete summative forms, the CBA model sees a physician assessed by more individuals at a time, with data tracked digitally. Using mock data from a simulated preceptor-based PRA candidate and a competency-based PRA candidate, workshop participants then formed committees to discuss whether they had adequate information to judge readiness for practice. The session emphasized the importance of high-quality data in making decisions for Canada’s health workforce.

Brain drain, brain gain, and brain waste – and the ethics of brain capital in a global marketplace of physicians

Dr. Sarita Verma and Dr. Eric Holmboe

With the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating a global shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030, this session focused on some of the main issues contributing to that challenge. Before breaking participants into three separate discussion groups, workshop leaders Dr. Sarita Verma, executive advisor at the MCC and Eric Holmboe, CEO of Intealth, reviewed some of the specific issues related to physician migration to Canada and, to a lesser degree, the United States.

Dr. Verma spoke to several challenges in Canada, including the restrictions of a provincially siloed medical system, the fact that Canada does not produce enough physicians domestically, the number of international trained doctors who are underemployed in Canada, and the challenge of the many Canadians studying abroad (also knowns as CSAs) who are then unable to return to the country to practise, all while many countries overproduce physicians for export, leading to their own shortages.

In their group discussions, participants stressed the tension of balancing the need for physicians in Canada with the duty to maintain professional standards and ensure patient safety, also touching on subjects of equity and fairness, retention and integration, and structural and system reform. Participants envisioned a health care system that produces enough domestic physicians while also equitably integrating those trained internationally, and that makes it easier for CSAs to come home to practise, while also aligning immigration with community needs, and viewing workforce planning as part of national health security.

Connected data, connected impact: Collaborating for a smarter health workforce

Ms. Deepa Turner, Ms. Natalie Damiano,
Dr. Rachael Kelly and Dr. Bernadette Rock

This hybrid workshop brought together leaders from Canada and Ireland to explore how connected data can transform health workforce planning. Ms. Deepa Turner, executive director of Candidate and Credential Services with the MCC, opened with a call to move beyond simply collecting data, emphasizing the need for actionable insights to address national health challenges. Natalie Damiano, director of Health Workforce Information at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, showcased how Canada’s largest health data repository is being leveraged to track supply, distribution, and migration of health professionals, supporting predictive planning and better decision-making.

The conversation expanded internationally, as Dr. Bernadette Rock and Dr. Rachael Kelly, both from the Medical Council of Ireland and attending virtually, shared how integrated data is helping Ireland understand physician mobility, retention, and workforce trends, critical for both patient safety and system sustainability. Their experience highlighted the importance of breaking down data silos and fostering collaboration across organizations and borders. Participants engaged in discussions, reflecting on the biggest data challenges in their own organizations and envisioning new capabilities that could drive smarter, more responsive health workforce strategies.

These workshops concluded a two-day event that included an awards dinner honouring several MCC award recipients.