Manitoba task force looks to reduce physician paperwork burden, free up doctors for more patient care

A new provincial task force will brainstorm ways to cut down paperwork and other administrative burdens to allow Manitoba doctors to focus more on patient care, and taking care of themselves.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced details about the joint task force at a news conference on Friday, four days after the advocacy group Doctors Manitoba repeated calls first made last fall for supports for physicians who are "drowning in paperwork."

The province first promised to create such a task force last November, but has now announced more detail about it.

The task force will include three doctors, one provincial health representative and one member from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business "with expertise in red tape reduction," the province said in a news release.

It will have two co-chairs — one appointed by the government and one by Doctors Manitoba, the release said.

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Candace Bradshaw said she was surprised and relieved by Friday's announcement. She is hopeful the task force will help find ways doctors can devote more time to patients and staying healthy themselves.

"When you have a profession that's as burnt out as this one is, that's huge," Bradshaw said at the Friday news conference, adding physicians typically spend two to three hours per day on administrative work.

"Doctors go into medicine to care for patients, but this soul-sucking administrative burden is stealing our time away from patients," she said.

"With a shortage of physicians and pandemic backlogs, it's distressing for physicians to be stuck filling out unnecessary paperwork when you know your time would be better spent face-to-face seeing patients."

Recruitment announcement coming: Gordon

Alongside the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, Doctors Manitoba released a wish list of items in October that it wanted the province to implement in order to help recruit and retain more doctors amid an "all-time high" for physician burnout, Bradshaw said.

That list also called on the province to help cut down on the administrative work that ties up physicians and create a centralized system that connects doctors with specialists to consult on tough cases.

A couple weeks later, Gordon announced plans to hire 2,000 health-care workers, end mandated overtime for nurses, boost mental-health supports for health-care workers, and offer financial incentives as part of a $200-million health-care system plan.

That announcement was also where she first promised to establish a task force to help reduce the administrative burden on physicians.

Gordon said Friday an announcement on incentives to help with attracting more workers should be expected next week.

In December, the province also announced the creation of a centralized system to help connect health-care workers for advice on complex cases. It's intended to assist rural physicians and hopefully cut down on the number of medevac transfers to hospitals in urban centres.

Gordon's Friday announcement came just days after the release of a Canadian Federation of Independent Business national report for its national red-tape awareness week.

The small-business advocacy group gave Manitoba a B+ grade in that report, which challenged jurisdictions to follow Nova Scotia's lead and focus on reducing the paperwork burden experienced by doctors.

"I am also just as surprised as Dr. Bradshaw," Brianna Solberg, CFIB's provincial affairs director for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the north, said at Friday's announcement.

A 10 per cent reduction in administrative work in Manitoba could free doctors up for 177,000 more patient visits each year, she said.

Gordon said the task force will identify and streamline "unnecessary administrative burdens" facing physicians not only as a means of improving patient care, but also as a means of recruiting out-of-province doctors to come practise in Manitoba.

Dr. Bradshaw thanked Gordon for listening to Doctors Manitoba and taking action. 

Bradshaw, who has worked in family medicine for over 20 years, said she has never seen the administrative burden as heavy as it is right now for physicians.

There are no firm deadlines for specific goals yet, but Bradshaw hopes the task force's work will lead to some changes soon.