Employers should stop requiring doctors’ notes when employees are sick, a Manitoba task force recommends. Manitoba is one of only three provinces that doesn’t set limits on requesting sick notes from a physician, and that needs to change, the joint task force determined.
It’s one of six recommendations from the Joint Task Force to Reduce Administrative Burdens for Physicians. The group submitted its final report to Manitoba’s health minister and Doctors Manitoba on Friday.
Eliminating the need for sick notes in most cases, cutting back on other paperwork and the need for doctors’ approvals, and standardizing other required forms will be key to reducing doctors’ administrative workload, the report suggests.
Six recommendations aimed at cutting down on physicians’ paperwork and reducing doctors’ administrative workload have been introduced in Manitoba. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg files)
The recommendations state employers should find other ways to manage employees’ short-term absences. In cases where doctors need to submit paperwork, the frequency of the forms should be determined by the doctor, not the employer, the task force decided.
“Requests from third parties, such as employers, educational institutions, and insurance companies, should be limited to situations in which physicians’ expertise adds value, such as informing an accommodation or a safe return to work,” reads the sick-note recommendation. “Accommodation and return-to-work forms and processes should be standardized in a common format that is clear and easy to use for physicians, while ensuring employers and other third parties receive the medical information they need the first time. Where status or progress reports are required from a physician, the frequency of those reports should be informed by the physician.”
The recommendations also call for an electronic records system in Manitoba.
The final report and recommendations were released Oct. 4. The task force, co-chaired by Doctors Manitoba and representatives from the provincial government, was set up in February 2023.