I’m Kate Dewhirst.

My team and I write about legal issues affecting healthcare in Canada.

Kate Dewhirst Health Law - bringing the law to life. Meet Kate (in 13 seconds)

Key issues hospitals need to manage when recruiting non-licensed MDs to non-medical positions

Posted by

Not everyone who trains as a physician practices medicine or continues to practice medicine. Some choose to work in a hospital environment but not as a physician such as in administration, research, information technology, finance, risk, law, policy, public relations, or interdisciplinary professional practice. Medical training can be an enormous advantage for a candidate applying to a non-medical role in a hospital.

There are three key issues hospitals need to manage when recruiting non-licensed physicians to non-medical roles within the hospital.

  1. Clarify that they have a non-medical position and that they cannot provide medical services: Only physicians who are licensed, registered and insured (hold professional indemnity protection coverage) in Ontario are permitted to provide medical services within a hospital.  When recruiting medically trained individuals to a non-medical position, you must make it clear that they must not engage in any activities where they are actually providing medical services or could be perceived as providing medical services. For example, no “touching” patients, no clinical consultations, no diagnosing.
  2. Clarify that they are not part of the Professional Staff: The Public Hospitals Act regulates the relationship between hospitals and its physicians as members of the Professional Staff appointed annually by the Board.  That relationship is very different than a normal employment relationship or independent contractor agreement.  It is important to clarify the position is not included in the category of the Board-appointed Professional Staff. There are legal rights and responsibilities for Professional Staff that should not attach to a non-medical position on your team.
  3. Clarify their professional use of titles such as “doctor” or “physician” or “surgeon” or “Dr.”: In a hospital environment, using any of these titles can be very confusing if someone is not practicing as a physician.  Individuals not licensed to practice medicine in Ontario, should exercise caution about holding themselves out as physicians. The Medicine Act affords title protection for using the titles of physician or surgeon or abbreviations for those who are members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.   Proactively clarify how they can reference their educational training of “MD” in your professional context so as to avoid misunderstandings.  Please note that if the individual is also a PhD, they may rightfully use the title of “Dr.”, but you may wish them to clarify that they are not licensed as an MD.

Often Medical Affairs and the Chief of Staff are not involved when a department recruits and hires a medically trained candidate into a non-medical role.  I recommend you remind your Human Resources leadership to consult with Medical Administration and the Chief to ensure the right language is inserted into the offer letter to clarify the above issues.

If you are interested in more information on physician issues with hospitals, read the now free resource I wrote for the Ontario Hospital Association on Professional Staff Credentialing.


If you enjoyed this article please share it:


Previous and next posts from Kate:

Some of Kate’s recent and upcoming events

Free healthcare privacy webinar - ask me anything!
the first Wednesday of every month

Free webinars - advance registration needed

Whether you're an experienced privacy officer or new in the field, pick Kate’s brain for free for an hour, in this live webinar. No charge, but you’ll need to register in advance.

Health Privacy Officer Foundations training
starts March 2024

For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations.

This course focuses on how to become a more confident privacy officer and gives you the tools to document your privacy program. Full details and registration here...

Join the Shush: a collective of health privacy officers
Annual membership 2024

For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations

This is an annual membership program that takes theory into practice and tackles real life scenarios to build Privacy Officer skills.
Full details and registration here.

Primary care webinars: Employment Law Update & Legal Issues for EDs and Board members

Part of Kate’s monthly webinar series.

Our 2024 program is now live.
Full details of the 2024 webinar series and registration here.

Mental Health webinars: Legal issues for mental health and addictions agencies and teams
Annual membership 2024

For managers and other leaders from mental health and addictions agencies, hospitals, CMHAs, CHCs, school boards, FHTs and Indigenous health services

This is an annual membership program with monthly webinars.
Full details and registration here.

Team Privacy Training Events

For Primary Care clinics, Hospitals, Community Agencies, Mental Health Teams, Public Health Units, School Boards, Police departments

Scheduled to your team's needs for comprehensive or refresher training More details...

Free summary of all PHIPA IPC decisions

Want to read privacy breach stories to learn how to improve your work? We have summarized all the Information and Privacy Commissioner's health privacy decisions for you Download here...

Kate Dewhirst Health Law

Kate says:

My mission is bringing the law to life. I make legal theory understandable, accessible and fun! I’m available and love to work for all organizations in the healthcare sector across Ontario and beyond.

Subscribe to my mailing list and keep up to date with news:

Latest Tweets

  • Our twitter feed is unavailable right now. Follow us on Twitter
  • contact details

    P.O. Box 13024, RPO Bradford Centre
    Bradford, ON, L3Z 2Y5

    (416) 855 9557

    .