When
submitting your QIP for 2024/25, you may have noticed a new narrative section
entitled “Administrative Burden”. To support Ontario Health’s
Patients Before Paperwork initiative, in this narrative section
you were asked to share how your organization is supporting teams to spend more
time on direct patient care by streamlining clinical and administrative work.
Almost
all (98%) of primary care teams completed this section and a qualitative
analysis was conducted by the QIP team to identify themes.
Through
this analysis it was clear that across the province, teams are turning to
digital tools to combat administrative burden. The figure below highlights
which digital tools teams discussed most to least frequently. It is important
to note the figure highlights the mention of digital tools, not the
use.
The
detailed information submitted by primary care teams allowed the QIP team to
better understand both administrative burden issues and solutions. This
information, coupled with consultations with the Patients Before Paperwork team
led to the creation of 7 new optional indicators in the Safety priority issue
for the 2025/26 QIP submissions; 1 indicator looking at reducing fax volumes to
reduce failed faxes, and a suite of 6 indicators measuring uptake of specific
digital tools.
Ready
to tackle administrative burden in primary care?
If
you are interested in learning more about the new indicators aimed at reducing
administrative burden in primary care, access the following resources:
The
addition of these new indicators, and the continuation of the Administrative
Burden narrative section will allow the QIP team and primary care field to
continue to learn about the challenges and solutions the field is experiencing
as we work to combat this issue.