RICHMOND, BC – Feb. 5, 2026 – New national data released during Red Tape Awareness Week reveals that Canada’s family physicians face significantly higher administrative workloads than their specialist colleagues—and have the fewest options for delegating that work.
The findings, published in a comprehensive Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) report titled Losing Doctors to Desk Work, show general practitioners spend 9.9 hours weekly on administrative tasks compared to 8.6 hours for medical specialists and 8.4 hours for surgical specialists.
More concerning, the report finds that only 59.6% of family physicians’ administrative time could be delegated to others—the lowest rate among all practice areas—while 85% of all physicians report having no administrative support whatsoever.
The Medical Student Crisis
According to the CMA report, 53% of medical students say administrative burden plays a major role in discouraging them from family medicine. Nearly three-quarters (70%) express being “extremely or very worried” about the time they’ll spend on paperwork, even before entering practice.
“We’re losing doctors before they start,” said Clark Van Oyen, CEO of Cortico, a Richmond-based healthcare workflow automation company. “When medical students see family physicians drowning in forms and documentation, they’re making rational career choices—just not the ones our healthcare system needs them to make.”
The generational shift is evident in attitudes toward technology: 79% of medical students say they want to use AI tools in their future practice, compared to just 28% of current physicians who’ve adopted these tools.
Technology Solutions Driving Efficiency
Fortunately, several local healthtech companies are already making progress in reducing administrative burden for Canadian providers:
The Stakes for Canadian Healthcare
The CMA report estimates that eliminating unnecessary administrative work could free capacity equivalent to 9,093 full-time physicians—about 9% of Canada’s active medical workforce. For individual physicians, this represents approximately 199 hours annually, or more than a full month of working time.
With 25% of physicians considering leaving medicine or early retirement within two years due to administrative pressures, the window for intervention is narrowing.
About Red Tape Awareness Week:
Red Tape Awareness Week is a national initiative highlighting regulatory and administrative burdens across sectors and celebrating solutions that reduce unnecessary complexity.
About Cortico:
Founded in 2015, Cortico provides patient engagement and healthcare workflow automation for over 400 clinics across North America. Specializing in deep EMR integrations, Cortico’s mission is to modernize clinical operations through secure, autonomous workflows that improve both provider well-being and patient access.
Media ContactCompany Name: Cortico Contact Person: Alfred Wong Cortico Email: Send EmailCity: Richmond State: British Columbia Country: CanadaWebsite: https://cortico.health/
