Bill 44: Healthcare Staffing Agencies Act, 2025

This bill directly impacts healthcare staffing agencies operating in Ontario that supply nurses, personal support workers, and other healthcare professionals to hospitals and long-term care homes. These businesses — ranging from small specialty agencies to large multi-location firms — will face a dramatic loss of revenue as facilities in municipalities of 8,000+ people must eliminate agency spending within 24 months. Any new agency entering the market must incorporate as a not-for-profit, fundamentally changing the business model. Existing agencies face pay caps (no more than 10% above facility rates), a ban on recruiting staff away from hospitals and long-term care homes (with fines up to $1,000,000), and those receiving over $400,000 from provincial sources will face Auditor General oversight and must disclose employee compensation on the Sunshine List. Hospitals and long-term care homes are also affected, as they must develop publicly available staffing plans, track agency spending in detail, and transition to fully in-house staffing models.