A family doctor's clinic in Marathon, Ont. on Nov. 11, 2022. The provincial government is hoping several initiatives to reduce paperwork for physicians will free up time for them to spend with more patients.Ontario plans to reduce the number of sick notes doctors have to write and expand a pilot project to test artificial-intelligence, note-taking software, all to cut down on a paperwork burden many in the profession say discourages medical students from going into family medicine.
Leaders in the medical profession blame the problem on the demands of the administrative work that primary-care practitioners face and the fact that other medical specialties, such as surgeons, are paid much more. Louisa Huband, president of the South East Toronto Family Health Team where Ms. Jones made her announcement, praised the moves to reduce paperwork. But she also said the government needs to follow B.C.’s lead and boost the compensation model for family medicine.
The initiatives announced on Wednesday are part of an existing “Patients Before Paperwork” program that has already seen Ontario pledge to expand computerization in the health system and scrap fax machines “over the next few years.” The government also says it will introduce proposed legislation that would prohibit employers from requiring a sick note for the province’s three days of job-protected sick leave.
She has heard from colleagues that the AI scribe program can save doctors 45 minutes to an hour a day they would spend updating patient charts. She said reducing sick notes should also free up same-day and next-day appointments for other patients.