Doctors rewarded for staying on P.E.I.

Doctors who stay on P.E.I. for longer than five years will receive extra compensation under a new contract with Health PEI.

Health PEI signed a new master agreement with doctors late last year. Itruns from April 2010 to April 2015, and will see doctors' base salaries increase six per cent over the life of the agreement. It also adds a number of incentives.

Doctors who have worked on the Island for more than five years will get $2,000 each year they stay after that.

"A lot of the physicians that have been here for five, 10, 20 years are all saying that here they are picking up the load when physicians leave," Richard Wedge, executive director of medical affairs with Health PEI, told CBC News Tuesday.

"They were keen to have an incentive that at least recognized that they were here in the province on a regular basis."

The province is also rewarding doctors who work together in larger groups, with other health care professionals in a collaborative practice.

If they work with people like nurse practitioners, mental health or addictions workers, or extend their hours to nights and weekends, the doctors will receive an extra $5,000 a year.

Specialists will get productivity bonuses for seeing more patients, and reducing wait times.

The total budget for doctors' pay is $86 million for 2011-12. The provisions of the new five-year agreement are expected to cost another $2.1 million a year.