Reducing the administrative burden in health care is critical if we want physicians and other members of the health care team to thrive and have more time to do what they do best — provide safe and high-quality care to patients and family.
On average, physicians are spending an extra 10 hours per week outside of working hours on unnecessary administrative tasks, which correlates with reported declines in well-being.
To help reduce the time physicians spend completing administrative tasks and help enable better patient care and physician well-being across Canada, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), MD Financial Management and Scotiabank established the $10-million Health Care Unburdened Grant program.
The program has attracted a lot of attention. We have received more than 230 applications from across the country for initiatives that will streamline or reduce paperwork and make processes and practices more efficient. Recipients of the Health Care Unburdened Grant will receive grants between $500,000 and $1 million.
To ensure the grant recipients’ success, the CMA is collaborating with Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC), a not-for-profit organization that works with partners to spread innovation, build capability and catalyze policy change so that everyone in Canada has safe and high-quality health care. HEC will support grant recipients through its proven approach to implementation which includes coaching, focused learning activities, networking and knowledge-sharing.
As part of this collaboration, grant recipients will be able to:
- Access expert coaching supports and a wide array of resources, including webinars, knowledge products and peer-to-peer networking to help implement their project and plan for long-term sustainability.
- Connect with other teams to share, learn, celebrate, and build on successes.
- Share evidence-informed tools and best practices to help address gaps and meet their needs.
- Support their team in tracking its progress and evaluating its success.
- Share results with others across the workforce who are interested in reducing administrative burden.
The CMA will announce the recipients of the Health Care Unburdened Grant in May 2024.