The Atlantic Registry (AR) launched on May 1, 2023. The first of its kind in Canada, the AR enables ease of mobility for physicians licensed in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Registry streamlines administrative processes and lowers licensing costs for physicians to practice across the region. 

As of January 1, 2025, there were 377 physicians on the AR, including 213 physicians from NB, NL, and PEI who hold Full licences in NS by way of the AR, 98 of whom are family physicians.

Health Canada supported the first evaluation of the impact, efficiency and sustainability of the Atlantic Registry.

Key findings of the evaluation were as follows:

• The AR did not have a significant impact on access to care despite significant effort required to establish it.
• The AR removed some administrative burden for physicians, but not all: physicians seeking to practice in another province were still required to obtain provincial incorporation, credentials, and privileges before they could begin providing care.
• The AR created additional administrative inefficiencies for MRAs due to sub-optimal information sharing and process design.
• The AR had little impact on physician mobility on a health system scale and demonstrated that enabling multi-jurisdictional licensure was not enough to enable multi-jurisdictional practice.

The complete evaluation can be downloaded here.