A new report indicates that physicians across the country are losing 20-million hours of work each year to unnecessary paperwork and administrative tasks, the equivalent of having 9,000 full-time physicians in the system.

The report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Canadian Medical Association was released as part of Red Tape Reduction Week.

It argues that the elimination of burdensome administrative work would mean each individual doctor would reclaim 199 hours per year, which is more than a full month of work.

According to the report, 93 per cent of doctors say it disrupts their work-life balance, 95 per cent feel less fulfilled professionally, and 90 per cent link it to burnout.

If such work were eliminated, 79 per cent of physicians say they would use the time to improve their work-life balance, 44 per cent would spend more time with existing patients, and 43 per cent would take on new ones.

The CFIB’s executive vice president of advocacy, Corinne Pohlmann, says doctors are spending too much time on work that could be eliminated entirely or done by someone else, arguing that cutting red tape isn’t optional – it is a “critical solution  that we can’t afford to ignore.”