Need to take a sick day? A doctors note soon won't be required in Ontario

Family doctors have been sounding the alarm that they’re overwhelmed with hours of paperwork, not all of it necessary. Today, the health minister announced changes she says will help to spend more time with their patients and less time filling out paperwork. The government will prohibit sick notes for the three sick days a year that are permitted for workers across the province. The bosses may ask for proof, such as a receipt, or for the worker to attest to being sick. One doctor at the announcement says it won’t only reduce paperwork. So it contributes to equity of patients. There are many who don’t have family doctors and who are not able to get those important work notes to get paid. The opposition says no sick notes are needed. Just ban them. They serve no purpose. The previous Liberal government did ban them in 2018. The Ford government then repealed that shortly after coming to power. The NDP health critic also wants the government to streamline medical forms needed for insurance. Some of them have 3 pages, some of them have 7 pages, but it’s all the same information. Mandate the insurance company to use one form. The province says it will be simplifying 12 different medical forms. Another change The government is expanding a pilot project to 150 doctors offices using artificial intelligence to summarize and transcribe patient visits if a patient gives consent. Unfortunately, the visit is often interrupted by the family doctor having to face their computer to type in notes. This multitasking is challenging and takes away from the time that I and my colleagues want to give to our patients. Doctors are hopeful and also cautious. AI is a new frontier with great potential to reduce administrative burden. But we need to test this technology. The Liberal health critic, a doctor himself, says there are more, bigger changes needed and more investment. At a time when more than two million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor Brian, An AI, an artificial intelligence scribe pilot project, sounds exciting. It doesn’t strike at the heart of the matter. Those changes for sick notes will require a legislative change. They’ll be included in a new bill coming from the Ministry of Labor early next month. Lorenda Radicomp, CBC News, Toronto.