It’s been one year since our Joint Task Force to Reduce Administrative Burdens released its final report calling for significant changes to unnecessary paperwork and administrative tasks physicians face in their practice. Doctors Manitoba has continued to push for improvements, with your continued advice and guidance. 

The report outlined six key ways to support continued progress toward making a meaningful reduction in administrative tasks for physicians, including streamlining care coordination across providers, improving electronic record systems and eliminating sick notes, which could free up more than 300,000 visits per year for patients who require actual medical attention. 

Progress and Next Steps

• Freeing up the referral system from fax machines
  One of the top frustrations we hear about is the largely paper and fax-based process for referrals and consultations. Physicians on the sending and receiving ends waste an average of 30 – 40 hours per year on inefficient referral and requisition systems. We’re hosting a summit on October 31 in partnership with CPSM and Shared Health to find solutions. Join us!
• Making note-taking nimbler
  AI scribes have the potential to help doctors save time on writing notes for patient charts, improve the quality of notes, and support better patient-physician communication. We launched an AI Scribe Hub with key resources to help doctors get started and hosted a webinar with Canada Health Infoway this summer. Visit our AI Scribe Hub and view a recap of the webinar.
• Straightening out sick notes
  Let’s face it. We are sick of sick notes. They’re an HR issue, not a medical one, and they divert physicians from patient care. In partnership with HR and labour experts, we issued new guidance for employers about how to handle absences, provided definitive recommendations to government on eliminating sick notes through legislation, and launched a new social media campaign. Learn more about the Sick of Sick Notes campaign.
  
  In the year ahead, we will be tackling the myriad of other forms and requests physicians receive from employers. We’re working on getting agreement on developing standard forms for the most common requests, such as workplace accommodations and safe return to work, to reduce the variability and streamline the process when medical advice actually is needed. 

Admin Burden Reduction Lead Appointed

As we look ahead to making more progress for physicians over the next year, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Alexis Botkin as our new Medical Lead for Reducing Administrative Burden! 

Dr. Botkin was a member of the Joint Task Force, and in this new role, she will work with our staff and the health system to continue pressing for simpler administrative tasks and less paperwork to lighten your load. This builds on her previous work with Doctors Manitoba as a Medical Consultant with Physician Health and Wellness. 

We continue to raise your concerns with health system leaders on issues , such as added burden with using SWIM in some surgical offices. 

Keeping Track of Progress

We’re continuing our work with other partners to keep the pressure on reducing your administrative burden. 

• Following our report, all RHAs were asked by Manitoba Health to identify three ways to reduce administrative burden. We are following up to get an update on the progress being made in each region. 
• Over the summer, we partnered with the CMA and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business on a new physician survey to understand how administrative burdens are changing. Stay tuned for a major new report coming this winter. 
• We have been meeting with the Canada Revenue Agency about simplifying renewals for the Canada Disability Tax Credit, and we expect Manitoba will launch a pilot with a two-page renewal form soon. 

Why it Matters

Administrative burden is a leading cause of burnout among physicians, and it takes time away from patient care and family. Our report found that: 

• Physicians spend 10.1 hours per week on administrative tasks on average, which adds up to 1.4 million hours per year. 
• 44% of this time is unnecessary, equivalent to 633,000 hours per year or 1.9 million patient visits. 

As we plan our next year of administrative burden priorities, we invite you to send your concerns and ideas related to our team by emailing adminburden@​doctorsmanitoba.​ca.