We will serve physician licensure decisions through excellence in programs of assessment

The Medical Council of Canada (MCC) has supported physician licensure in Canada for more than 100 years by offering medical graduates and other candidates objective assessments that reflect the changing competencies required to practise medicine in this country.

As part of our commitment to safe, accessible health care for all patients in Canada, the MCC is focused on producing robust assessments grounded in real-world medical practice that support licensing bodies while improving the assessment experience for candidates.

Action plans

Enhance the effectiveness of examination processes by streamlining their design, development, delivery, and scoring, while reducing the turnaround time for candidate results. We expect these changes to take some time; however, the improvements will significantly enhance overall efficiency.
Design a robust assessment program tailored for clinical practice environments, ensuring relevance and applicability.

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

The number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs)/service agreements with medical regulatory authorities for MCC workplace-based assessment (WBA) products and services. These agreements demonstrate participation and affirm the value of MCC’s WBA program and alignment with national standards.
Delivery time for exam results: the number of days from the exam date to the delivery of results to candidates. This serves as a key indicator of the operational effectiveness of our exam processes, reflecting the efficiency of our streamlined exam delivery and scoring procedures.

Progress towards this objective

To deliver on this objective, we are actively developing and revising our program of assessment in collaboration with our partners in regulation and licensure. We are committed to operational excellence, continuous quality improvement, and adding value for end users. This collaborative effort ensures that our assessments meet the highest standards and are aligned with the needs of the regulatory community. Most changes will be implemented in the April 2025 to March 2026 fiscal year. Recent updates include:

Exam improvements

In April 2025, we made changes to the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Part I to improve both the delivery and the overall candidate experience. The exam was shortened, and the clinical decision-making component was removed. New MCCQE Part I preparatory products, aligned with the revised assessment model, were launched in December 2024.

Delivery time for exam results

The delivery time for exam results remains stable. All results are delivered within an average of eight weeks, with some delivered as soon as six weeks after the exam date. The new format of the MCCQE Part I will also expedite the release of results. For the August and October 2025 sessions, results will be available four weeks after the last day of the exam session.

WBA integration

The development and enhancement of a national assessor training program is now underway. The program is designed to provide assessors with the skills and confidence to conduct defensible assessments within the workplace.
As of July 2024, the MCC has 10 active MOUs, statements of work, and/or service agreements for MCC’s WBA products and services.
Dr. Jason R. Frank joined the MCC in October 2024 as a part-time senior medical advisor to support the expansion of a WBA program, helping medical regulatory authorities and Practice-Ready Assessment (PRA) programs establish more accelerated pathways to licensure. In July 2025, he was named Director, Competency-Based Assessment.
The MCC provided the training for the team of assessors working out of the innovative Physician Assessment Centre of Excellence (PACE) in Halifax, Nova Scotia—the first clinic of its kind in Canada.
The MCC will continue with the implementation of new WBA programs into the PRA programs. These are designed to provide more pathways to practise for international medical graduates (IMGs) and internationally trained physicians (ITPs).

What’s next?

Expansion of NAC PRA

Currently, nine provinces are running independent National Assessment Collaboration (NAC) PRA programs. PRA programs have helped more than 300 ITPs start practising in the Canadian health care system. The MCC is working to expand these services to alleviate staffing shortages in health care.

TDM Examination transformation

We are actively transforming and modernizing the Therapeutics Decision-Making (TDM) Examination to enhance the candidate experience and increase the efficiency of the exam process. This transformation is expected to result in the examination being administered more frequently, eliminating barriers to its use in PRA programs.

Results

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