Tanshi, boozhoo and good evening, Chair and committee members.
I am pleased to join you here in Ottawa on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.
I'm Dr. Alika Lafontaine, a Métis anaesthesiologist working in Grande Prairie, Alberta, in northern rural Alberta. I appear before you as president of the Canadian Medical Association, representing the convictions of more than 92,000 physicians practising across the country, those learning and those wanting to fill the posts to make sure that our health system continues operating effectively.
I can also speak to the heroic efforts of other members of the health care team, specifically nurses, dentists, pharmacists, as well as other allied health care providers.
Health providers remain on the front lines of the pandemic. Their passionate tenacity has been on constant display, and this discussion comes at a historic time, a critical moment that can redefine Canada's health care system.
Ultimately our actions must increase Canadians' access to the care they need. That comes with a price tag and greater accountability, but we all appreciate that the health security of Canadians underscores the nation's financial security. The time is right for increased outcome-based federal funding in health care, and accountability for spending by provinces and territories that administer our health care systems.
The proposed budget carries significant Canada health transfer and bilateral funding commitments. It contains crucial steps to continue cleaning up past pandemic waves and fixing the structures that were barely staying together before their arrival.
Allow me to focus on three critical areas where investments and attention are urgently needed.
The first is pan-Canadian licensure. We were pleased to see front-end commitments to the recognition of credentials of health providers in this year's health transfers. As provinces and territories respond to this commitment, the CMA looks forward to a continued focus on the implementation of pan-Canadian licensure for physicians and other providers. Ninety-five per cent of physicians and medical learners are in favour of pan-Canadian licensure.
Pan-Canadian licensure will improve access in rural, remote and northern communities. It will improve access to specialist care, especially those specialists who are in extremely limited numbers; provide much needed relief in rural settings where solo practitioners have little options for support; and will make Canada more attractive to internationally trained medical graduates.
Earlier this month the Atlantic physician register went into effect in our Atlantic provinces, enabling the mobility of physicians among the four Atlantic provinces. This is historic, and the first time in the history of Canada that this has occurred.
Second, we need these investments to trickle down to frontline providers and improve their working conditions. Ten per cent of the Canadian workforce are health care providers. We know that burn-out rates among physicians and residents increased by 22% in the last four years. Last year, 49% of physicians polled indicated to the CMA that they would be reducing their clinical hours in the next 24 months. We are seeing this play out now.
Further contributing to the exodus of doctors is the administrative burden they face every day. If you add up that burden, you find that 18.5 million hours are spent each year on unnecessary administrative tasks, time that could equate to more meaningful time with patients and greater bandwidth to respond to urgent calls for help. To keep and attract the best health care professionals and to increase Canadians' access to care, we need to listen and respond to what the workforce needs.
Lastly, we need to double down on the relationship between better data and health care. No business the size and scope of health care in our country would question the need for comprehensive data to drive decision-making. Without changes to our medical data collection, Canada cannot plan for our workforce supply or distribution needs. Mechanisms to build a national infrastructure to improve integration, interoperability and ensuring of data are key to rebuilding the country's health workforce.
We also need to get serious about federal-provincial-territorial regulations around emerging technologies like virtual care and artificial intelligence.
Mr. Chair, health care workers and their patients have felt the impact of a broken health care system. This budget gives us an opportunity to stabilize and rebuild. The Canada health transfer and bilateral funding commitments announced in budgets 2023 and 2024 are a great impetus for change.
Marsi. Thank you. I look forward to the conversation.