Province also celebrating recruitment of 1,001 new family doctors in 2 years

Osborne says the province is changing its licensing rules so U.S.-trained doctors can begin practising in B.C. right away, without any need for further assessment, exams or training.

She said there will be a similar scale-back of the barriers facing U.S.-trained nurses and that a marketing campaign will be unveiled in Washington, Oregon and California within the next few months.