How PACE works
PACE is unlike any other model that exists in Nova Scotia or even Canada. PACE is comprised of three components — the Welcome Collaborative orientation program, the assessment program and the medical clinic with dedicated assessors.
PACE will offer work-based, office-based, competency-based assessments for internationally trained primary care physicians. As PACE partners with the Medical Council of Canada, the assessors receive significant training in assessment and have expert resources available to them.
The centralized model will allow for a community of practice for assessors. The assessors will be working together and have the time to focus on the assessments.
The work-place based aspect allows PACE to function as a primary care medical clinic. The internationally trained physicians will provide most of the direct patient care at PACE. Their medical practice will be assessed by the assessors.
The competency-based aspect allows for rolling entry into the program and potentially shorter periods of time needed for assessments.
The goal is to assess for as long as it takes to demonstrate competence in all domains related to office-based primary care in Nova Scotia. This is likely to take approximately 12 weeks.
How is PACE like other primary care clinics in Nova Scotia?
Like most clinics, at PACE you will receive ongoing primary care provided by physicians and other healthcare providers.
Like other Health Homes in the province, you are a patient of PACE rather than an individual physician. You have access to excellent care and excellent continuity of care, with all your care coordinated through PACE.
How is PACE different from other primary care clinics in Nova Scotia?
PACE is a groundbreaking initiative designed to enhance healthcare access in Nova Scotia. While supporting internationally trained physicians as they integrate into our healthcare system, PACE will provide excellent medical care.
At PACE, patient care is delivered by carefully selected internationally trained physicians, whose education and work experience has been thoroughly reviewed. Each of these physicians are working towards independent licensure in Nova Scotia and will be at PACE for around 12 weeks.
Fully licensed family physicians on-site, trained as assessors, oversee your care with the assistance of audio-visual equipment in the patient exam rooms. The patient encounters are not video recorded. The assessors review the physician’s knowledge and skills, your medical record, and ensure that you are receiving excellent care.
Over time, the physicians delivering your care will change. Once the internationally trained physicians successfully complete their time at PACE, they will open their own practice outside of PACE and take on their own patients. If you wish, you can remain a patient of PACE or follow that physician to their practice. Thereafter, a new internationally trained physician will begin work in PACE.
How PACE benefits you and the community
As a patient, you play an essential role in supporting the successful integration of new physicians into our healthcare system.
The initiative will help bring more than 40 new physicians into practice in Nova Scotia each year, improving healthcare access for all Nova Scotians.
PACE is designed with cultural safety, competence, and inclusivity in mind, ensuring a welcoming environment for both patients and physicians.
Your participation in PACE contributes to a stronger healthcare system in Nova Scotia.