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Medical Council of Canada
1021 Thomas Spratt Place
Ottawa, ON Canada, K1G 5L5
T : 1-613-521-6012
F : 1-613-248-5234
E : [email protected]
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2024 has been a year of change, innovation and achievement for the Medical Council of Canada (MCC), all shaped by our new strategic plan. A collaborative effort between the MCC Council and the leadership team, this comprehensive plan is redefining our priorities and informing our future projects and initiatives to strengthen our role as a valued and trusted partner in the medical community.
Our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our candidates while supporting regulatory and licensing bodies remains steadfast. This year, we focused on strengthening assessments that support licensing decisions and enhancing the candidate experience, keeping our corporate values at the centre of our work.
Since launching our strategic plan in July 2024, we have been operationalizing our services around the five key objectives that will drive our priorities for the next three years and beyond. These objectives anchor our commitment to serving the system of regulation and licensure through delivering innovative assessments, better supporting international medical graduates (IMGs), and advancing physician data management, ultimately bringing more physicians to patients and meeting the health care system’s growing demands.
On September 23 and 24, 2024, we welcomed more than 80 representatives from partner organizations to the MCC headquarters for our 2024 Annual Meeting, under the theme In service of safe patient care. Through a series of interactive sessions that were aligned with our strategic objectives, we encouraged collaboration and tapped into participants’ expertise. The rich discussions and takeaways that resulted from these sessions will continue to inform our work.
The MCC’s recent workplace-based assessment (WBA) efforts focus on standardizing training and assessment tools to ensure the validity and defensibility of licensing decisions, providing innovative solutions that are essential to meeting the evolving needs of the health care system. MCC’s WBA is designed to provide centralized and scalable solutions to Practice-Ready Assessment (PRA) programs for rigorously evaluating internationally trained physicians (ITPs) in real clinical settings.
This initiative holds promise in supporting the integration of ITPs into Canada’s health care workforce, helping to alleviate physician shortages and enhance access to care.
The National Registry of Physicians (NRP) officially launched in April 2024, marking the first milestone of an MCC-led effort to create a single database of accurate and current physician data. Created with support from medical regulatory authorities across Canada, the shared data in the NRP will help to speed up processes and improve physician mobility. Data from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, and Manitoba has now been integrated into the NRP, with progress underway for the remaining provinces and territories. On September 23, 2024, the NRP Data Governance and Advisory Committee held its inaugural in-person meeting to advise on functionality enhancements and data governance, advancing efforts to improve health care delivery and facilitate the portability of physician licenses across jurisdictions.
More details on the NRP are available on our webpage.
The MCC has been developing a new Preparatory Examination (PE) and a new PE-Lite to support candidates as they prepare for the MCCQE Part I. Designed to align with the shortened exam format, the new, high-quality products will be available in early December 2024. Preparations are also well underway for the launch of the modernized MCCQE Part I in 2025. The optimized exam, featuring two sections of multiple-choice questions, will be offered across three exam sessions during the year.
A business technology initiative is underway to modernize the MCC’s technology infrastructure and to ensure that our systems continue to serve the needs of candidates and other interested parties. This technology transformation will enhance the candidate experience, maintain high security standards, and streamline processes for both external and internal users.
As we move into 2025, we will continue to refine our assessment programs to better serve the regulatory community. We will also explore how to leverage our expertise to support IMGs and internationally trained physicians in various medical roles, helping them be part of Canada’s health care solutions. Building on our achievements, we will continue our work of meeting the needs of the health care system and providing safe access to care for patients.
1021 Thomas Spratt Place
Ottawa, ON Canada, K1G 5L5
T : 1-613-521-6012
F : 1-613-248-5234
E : [email protected]