Manitoba MDs buried under unnecessary administrative work, task force reports By: Danielle Da Silva Posted: 5:21 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 13, 2023

Private insurance companies and government bureaucracies are saddling Manitoba doctors with unnecessary administrative work at the expense of nearly two million patient visits each year.

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Private insurance companies and government bureaucracies are saddling Manitoba doctors with unnecessary administrative work at the expense of nearly two million patient visits each year.

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This article was published 13/06/2023 (1190 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Private insurance companies and government bureaucracies are saddling Manitoba doctors with unnecessary administrative work at the expense of nearly two million patient visits each year.

A joint task force co-chaired by Manitoba government and Doctors Manitoba representatives released its initial report on administrative burdens faced by physicians and proposed steps to lighten their workload late last month.

The report’s authors estimate Manitoba doctors spend an average of 10 hours each week on administrative tasks that range from filling out forms, to updating electronic medical records, to billing and scheduling.

However, about 44 per cent of that work is considered unnecessary and could be reduced, eliminated or delegated to clerical staff and other health-care workers, according to the task force, which was established in February.

Manitoba doctors spend about 633,000 hours on unnecessary administrative tasks, or the equivalent of about 1.9 million patient visits, the task force estimates.

“We know administrative burden is a major contributor to physician burnout, and administrative tasks take physicians away from patient care,” said Dr. Alexis Botkin, a director with Doctors Manitoba and task force member.

“I am encouraged to see progress finally being made on reducing the heavy administrative burden that physicians face every day.”

“I am encouraged to see progress finally being made on reducing the heavy administrative burden that physicians face every day.”–Dr. Alexis Botkin

Private insurers are the main culprit behind the deluge of paperwork followed by government organizations including Shared Health, Manitoba Health and other provincial departments, according to doctors surveyed by the task force.

More than 1,000 doctors responded to a task force survey in February to inform its initial progress report. A followup survey was also conducted in April and received nearly 450 responses.

About half the doctors blamed insurance companies for creating unnecessary work. They expressed frustration with a lack of standardized forms; requests for doctors to sign off on massage and physiotherapy benefits; and processing prescription drug requests.

Within the public sector, provincial health authority Shared Health, its digital health branch, and the regional health authorities were identified by about 40 per cent of doctors for piling on to their workload unnecessarily.

Doctors had “no shortage” of information-technology concerns related to digital health and electronic medical record systems, the report noted.

Some doctors are required to log in to five or more applications to do their job while others complained about the lack of interface between programs.

Manitoba Health was also singled out for excessive and duplicate information requests on physician billing claims and for lengthy application processes to cover drugs that are not officially part of Pharmacare.

The task force has set a goal of cutting administrative burdens by 10 per cent by the end of December to free up about 63,000 hours of physician time.

Task force co-chair Keir Johnson said that goal will only be achieved if organizations responsible for the administrative work make necessary improvements.

“We hope to have met with all of them by the end of the month to assess whether there is potential to improve something this year and then to talk about how we can do that together,” said Johnson, who represents Doctors Manitoba on the task force. “So far, we’ve been very pleasantly surprised. People want to help and we just need to figure out what’s doable in a short time frame.”

The timeline is ambitious, Johnson acknowledged, but the task force felt the goal was necessary. Its role will be to facilitate organizational improvements, measure progress and ensure doctors are involved along the way. Reducing red tape is expected to be a win-win for all parties involved, he added.

“People want to help and we just need to figure out what’s doable in a short time frame.”–Keir Johnson

Provincial involvement on the task force is also expected to spur health authorities and government departments to make changes within the established timeline, Johnson said.

“It’s a strong signal to the public sector that this is a priority and that’s certainly been our observation so far,” he said.

On Tuesday, a Shared Health spokesperson said the organization only received the report recently and its recommendations would be reviewed in further detail.

According to the task force, administrative work reported by Manitoba doctors is in line with estimates for other Canadian jurisdictions. The task force will submit its final report at the end of the year.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca