Time to streamline federal forms

2024-02-26

Thank you for your hard work as a family doctor and all you do to take care of your patients. We know that many competing demands for your time can be hard to manage. In a recent CFPC survey, the vast majority of family doctors reported federal health forms—such as the Disability Tax Credit and the Medical Certificate for Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits—to be a significant or main source of administrative burden. More than 4 in 5  family doctors are dissatisfied with the remuneration provided for this work.

The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) continues to advocate for family doctors, urging the federal government to address and reduce this burden faced by members and compensate  them fairly.

We are calling on the federal government to:

• Eliminate the need for community-based family doctors to fill out these forms by introducing a centralized federal pool of professionals who would complete and submit these forms
• In the short term, streamline and simplify frequently used forms and compensate family physicians fairly for their time spent on forms

You can help. We encourage you to add your voice by using our tool to quickly send a pre-written letter to your Member of Parliament. The letter presses for change for family physicians who are stifled under heavy administrative burden while incomes stagnate or decline.

As always, thank you for everything you do to support your patients and the health and well-being of Canadians. Please drop us a line with your thoughts at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Mike Green, MD, MPH, CCFP, FCFP, FCAHS
President

Nancy Fowler, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Deputy CEO