Good for Manitobans
✔ Better access to care
✔ Rest and recover when sick
✔ Eliminate hassle and expense of getting sick notes
Eliminating Sick Notes
Good for Manitobans. Good for employers. Good for doctors.
Did you know that sick notes are a leading cause of wasted physician time? Each note might only take 5 – 6 minutes for a doctor to write, but with hundreds of thousands of notes per year it really adds up. With the major doctor shortage in Manitoba, it’s more important than ever to free up time for patient care.
Doctors Manitoba is leading an effort to eliminate the use of sick notes in Manitoba. We want to help working people recover when sick, help Manitobans get the care they need faster, and reduce the administrative burden on doctors – a top cause of burnout.
Eliminating Sick Notes is Good For Everyone.
Good for Employers
✔ Improved productivity
✔ Better employee engagement and trust
✔ Shift to better and proven methods to manage absenteeism
Good for Doctors
✔ Reduced administrative burden
✔ More time for patient care
✔ Less spread of illness
Sick Notes: By the Numbers
601,307 notes
While each doctor writes an average of 5 – 6 sick notes per week, it really adds up. All in, doctors write over 600,000 sick notes per year in Manitoba, and that takes up 36,400 hours of their time.
Fact: Sick Notes Take Up Valuable Time.
One Third
More than third of the time, patient’s have no symptoms when they see a doctor for a sick note. This means sick notes are a false form of verification.
FACT: Sick Notes Aren’t Effective
302,716 visits
Over 300,000 doctors visits could be freed up for real medical concerns if Manitoba eliminates sick notes. That’s the same as adding over 50 doctors!
FACT: Eliminating Sick Notes Will Improve Patient Access
$8+ Million per year
Unnecessary sick notes result in 233,000 unnecessary doctors visits per year, which costs taxpayers over $8 million annually.
FACT: Sick Notes Waste Money
Manitoba is behind.
Manitoba is one of only two provinces that hasn’t taken any action to limits the use of sick notes. This is a big problem, especially when Manitoba has one of the biggest doctor shortages in the country. While each sick note only takes a few minutes to write, with over 600,000 requests per year across Manitoba it really adds up and adds to patient wait times.
Momentum is growing for a shift away from sick note to verify short term absences and there is strong support public and business support for these measures. Public polling shows 89% of Canadian business owners support the reduction of unnecessary paperwork for doctors (CFIB Survey).
Why Eliminate Sick Notes?
Improve Patient Care
Banning sick notes will free up over 300,000 unnecessary patient visits per year for doctors to see patients who really need help. That’s the same as immediately adding over 50 doctors to Manitoba’s health system!
Reduce Inequity
The time and expense of getting a sick note is particularly challenging for low wage workers and those without access to a family doctor.
Stop Spread of Illness
People with short-term, minor illnesses or injuries often need to stay home, rest and recover – not bring more colds and flu to their workplace or busy medical waiting rooms. Research shows 82% of workers would rather go to work sick than get a sick note.
Save Taxpayers Money
A third of the time patients are only visiting their doctor for a sick note, not medical care. That means sick notes cost Manitoba taxpayers an estimated $8 million per year on these unnecessary medical visits. Plus, many workers have to pay out of pocket for a sick note as an uninsured service.
Reduce Physician Burnout
Manitoba has the fewest family physicians per capita in Canada. By eliminating sick notes, healthcare providers can focus more on patient care rather than paperwork, helping address the physician burnout crisis and retaining more of the doctors we have.
Improve Productivity
Sick notes are ineffective for managing absenteeism. They can create a false sense of verification for employers and undermine workplace trust. Sick note requirements also promote the spread of illness through more people working while ill or going to the doctor unnecessarily.
Take Action
Doctors Manitoba is leading a project to eliminate sick notes for short term illness while also streamlining other common third-party requests from insurance companies, employers and educational institutions for things like accommodations and return-to-work medical assessments. This work is being advanced with strong support and collaboration from labour, employer, and insurance industry partners.
Together, we can eliminate the routine use of sick notes for verifying short term absences, while supporting employers, unions and other organizations as they transition to better alternatives for attendance management. To help, Doctors Manitoba is working with HR and legal experts to create a toolkit for employers to transition away from using sick notes.
When it comes to more legitimate doctors notes or medical certificates, our project is leading the development of a more consistent approach for common requests to ensure employers and workers get the right information the first time. This includes accommodations and return-to-work forms.
Eliminating sick notes and improving other types of requests will be a win-win-win: good for Manitobans, good for employers, and good for doctors.
- Support this work: We value your expertise! Email us: adminburden@doctorsmanitoba.ca to see how you can get involved or share a story of why you’re sick of sick notes.
- Stay tuned for updates: A new dedicated toolkit and resources are being developed for employers to support managing sick time without sick notes.
Project Support
The Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank proudly support this Doctors Manitoba project, one of several initiatives that comprise their $115 million commitment to supporting the medical profession and advancing health in Canada.
