Guide to the Ontario PA Career Start Grant

The Ontario PA Career Start program provides an opportunity for prospective PA employers a new physician assistant graduate while benefiting from grant.

I. What is the Ontario PA Career Start Program?

The Ontario PA Career Start Program is an initiative that aims to bridge the gap between newly graduated physician assistants and healthcare employers in Ontario.

The Career Start Grant is time limited funding his grant acts as a financial boost, to be used towards PA salary to help reduce the financial burdens associated with recruiting and onboarding new PA graduates.

The primary objective of the program is twofold: to support PA employers in finding highly skilled professionals and to facilitate the integration, growth and development of this new role in Ontario’s health care system.

The process of applying for the grant has employers reflect on creating a sustainable business/funding model for onboarding and keeping a PA in the long term.

II. Who is eligible to apply for the Grant?

The criteria for employers who are eligible to apply for Career Start Grant funding is outlined by the Application Form:

• Employers whose health care services is largely publicly funded

• Health care team, and senior administrative staff are supportive of employing a PA

• A plan for adequate PA/MD supervision

• A plan for integration and orientation of the PA to the practice (medical directives, training, mentoring)

• Finances secured to match the grant funding to hire a PA for full time employment

• Commitment to sustaining the PA role beyond the 1 year GRant

• Willingness to fund an additional 6-week full time position for the PA if PA is not bridged into full time employment at the end of the grant funding

III. Who can be hired through the Career Start Grant?

Once employers are approved for the grant, they may hire a new PA graduate from an accredited Ontario Physician Assistant program. They must be a graduate from either McMaster’s Physician Assistant Education Program or University of Toronto’s PA Program (also known as PA Consortium).

For example, if the Career Start grant is being released in summer of 2023, this is for graduates who finish the program in August 2023, with the expectation to start employment by late fall of 2023.

Employers are not assigned a PA graduate, instead the approved employers supply a job posting in addition to the application form, and interested new Ontario PA graduates may apply. Employers interview candidates and send a job offer/contract to their top candidate. The PA graduate will then accept, negotiate or decline the offer.

IV. Components of the Grant

Employers receive up to $46,000 to contribute towards a full-time PA salary and benefits for 1 year. The employer is expected to provide additional funding on top of this to make up a full PA salary with benefits.

If the employer is from a rural community (rated 40+ on the Rurality Index scale) then the funding is for 2 years.

The market has becoming increasingly competitive new PA grad starting salary is closer to $87,500 to $94,000 CAD per year as of 2023 in Ontario WITH benefits. Although HealthForceOntario lists a much lower suggested salary for a new grad, we strongly recommended offering a competitive compensation package to recruit a top qualified candidate.

In previous years, there are always more jobs posted through Ontario Career Start Grant than there are PA candidates to fill them. So there is a possibility that an employer gets approved for the grant, and does not match with a PA graduate. Click here to learn more about a competitive PA compensation package in Canada.

V. Grant Application Process

Timeline

The timeline varies from year to year of the Grant Application Process, but usually includes the following:

• Summer 2023: Grant Application is released

• September 2023: Deadline for submission of grant application

• October 2023: Employers are notified of approval decision by the Ministry of Health. New Ontario PA graduates may start to apply for posted positions.

  • Tip: Top qualified PA new grads are recruited fairly quickly. We recommend employers interview their top candidates within 1-2 weeks of the job postings going live.

• December 2023: Newly recruited PAs must start working.

Components of the Application

1. Review the PA Career Start Program Guidelines: Familiarize yourself with the program's guidelines to ensure you meet all the necessary requirements. This will help you understand the expectations and make the most of the application process.

2. Do background research and perform a Needs Assessment to see if the PA is a good fit for your practice.

3. Have internal discussions with practice staff (senior management, administrative staff, HR) about integration of the PA role and your interest in the Career Start Program.

4. Complete the Application Form: Fill out the application form. Provide accurate and detailed information reflecting on your rationale for hiring a PA, how you envision the PA being integrated into your practice, and how you plan to sustain the PA position long term.

5. Sign the Terms of Funding Acknowledgement (Appendix A)

6. Include a Job Posting (Appendix B). Looking for PA Job templates? Click here to view templates of PA Job postings.

7. Submit your completed electronic application to PACareerStart@ontario.ca

VI. Frequently Asked Questions about Career Start

• Q. What if I am unable to secure a new Ontario PA grad despite being approved for funding?

  Employers may still opt to hire a Physician Assistant for the vacant role.

  You can opt to open up the applicant pool to experienced Physician Assistants who are not new Ontario PA graduates. This includes:

  • PA graduates who completed programs outside of Ontario (e.g. Manitoba, Nova Scotia)

  • PAs trained through the Canadian Armed Forces

  • American certified Physician Assistants (PA-C)

  You can post the position to a job board to attract qualified PA candidates.

  However, you will not receive the $46,000 career start grant funding since you are not hiring a new Ontario PA graduate.

• Q. Where can I get a template of a sample PA Job Posting?

  We have a guide to writing a PA job posting here.

• Q. How quickly should employers respond to PA job applicants?

  When the job postings go live in October, we recommend offering interviews within 1-2 weeks of receiving candidate applications.

  Reference checks should be completed once top candidate(s) have been selected from the interview process.

  Job offers should be sent within a couple of days after interviews take place.

  The reason being PA candidates are doing several interviews and often receiving several job offers.

  Employers who wait 4-6+ weeks after job postings are released to new PA graduates in October before screening resumes and sending invites for job interviews to interested candidates, however those candidates have often already accepted other Career Start Grant PA job offers within that time frame.

Final notes

The Ontario PA Career Start Program is an opportunity for employers lto receive financial support in the onboarding, recruitment and funding a new Ontario PA graduate. Good luck with the application process, and be sure to take advantage of other PA Employer Resources on Canadian PA.