Health paperwork: doctors attack insurers

2024-03-18 08:00:00

Quebec family doctors are once again calling for a substantial reduction in paperwork. But this time they have a new target: insurance companies.

Doctors say they spend hours filling out forms for reimbursement rather than seeing sick patients.

Doctor Pascal Renaud is exasperated by checking and signing forms over and over again. He spends almost 25% of his time there every day.

It’s two hours a day of work, all the paperwork side. It’s two hours that we’re not seeing other patients,” he says.

In Quebec, hundreds of patients make appointments daily to obtain these forms signed by their doctor and then give them to their insurance company. This is because patients need it to see other healthcare professionals and get reimbursed.

Many insurers require that the doctor prescribe massage therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy before being able to reimburse them. […] These are unnecessary visits! supports Dr Renaud.

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Dr. Pascal Renaud is the president of the Association of General Practitioners of Quebec, secretary treasurer at the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec and emergency doctor at the Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus, in Quebec.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc

What we want, as doctors, is to see the sickest patients and help them, rather than doing administrative forms for insurance companies.

Additionally, doctors say the forms are often different from one insurance company to another. They therefore demand standardization of these documents.

Reply from insurers: forms to avoid abuse

The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, which represents private insurers in the country, maintains that it recommends that its members not require references from family doctors.

The reality, however, is very different, recognizes Lyne Duhaime, who is president of the Association for Quebec. The requirement for healthcare professional referral forms is at the discretion of each company.

There are still diets that require it. This will be either at the request of the employer or the union which judges that it is a measure which is useful for controlling costs.

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The report by Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc

The Association maintains, on the other hand, that it has already standardized the forms of insurance companies for protections in the health sector. According to the organization, the problem is that the Ministry of Health has not distributed these forms in the health network.

If it is possible to standardize, to simplify even further, we offer our full collaboration to the minister [de la Santé] and health professionals, says Lyne Duhaime.

Dubé promises to resolve the problem in a few months

After recently attacking the CNESST and CHSLD forms, the Quebec Minister of Health wants to accelerate the pace to reduce doctors’ paperwork. He is aware of the problem and wants to resolve the situation quickly.

We are looking at the question of insurance, he says. It’s going to be very important because there is a lot of paperwork for insurance.

I’m giving myself a few months to be able to do that! No longer than that.

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Quebec Minister of Health, Christian Dubé

Photo : Radio-Canada / Sylvain Roy Roussel

Minister Dubé recognizes that insurers have standardized their forms, but that the digitization and computerization of the health network are not ready.

We put a lot of money in the budget this year for the digital shift. This is a very, very good example of what we can do for doctors, recalls the minister.

In its budget tabled on March 12, Quebec invested $902.5 million over five years to accelerate the digital shift in the health network.

We can read that digitalization will, among other things, reduce the administrative burden on professionals so that they can devote more time to care and services.

That said, doctors like Dr. Pascal Renaud are not as optimistic as the Minister of Health. They think it will take more than a few months before the changes become reality.