Gaining Efficiency: Increasing the Use of Physician Assistants in Canada

The growing demand for health and health care in Canada is a financial concern for governments, business, and all Canadians. With health consuming more than 40 per cent of provincial/territorial budgets in Canada, there is growing apprehension regarding the sustainability of the health care system and our ability to meet Canadians’ health care needs. This second report of the series on the value of physician assistants (PAs) forecasts the cost savings that could be generated for the health system by hiring more PAs.

This report is funded by the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants to provide insight into the potential time savings if routine tasks were delegated to physician assistants. This would alleviate the pressure that excess demand for care can place on physicians’ time. The report examines the value of PAs as a function of physician time-savings and efficiency gains. Three areas of medical practice for the Canadian context were chosen for economic modelling: primary care, emergency care services, and orthopaedics.