Forms Committee
Learn about what the Forms Committee does and the committee members
To provide guidance toward the objective assessment of any current or proposed new form, the Forms Committee has developed guidelines on best practices for review of forms. The main principles are: digital first, patient attestation, appropriateness and remuneration.
Read more about the guiding principles.
Update to members
Our ongoing efforts to streamline paperwork and help alleviate your administrative burden via the OMA-MOH Joint Forms Committee are seeing results, with two more forms now shortened in collaboration with the Ministry of Transportation:
- The Commercial Driver Medical Report – now AODA compliant and available on the Central Forms Repository – includes only the most important questions and has been reformatted to reduce followup requests. A Ministry of Transportation resource guides you through the updates
- The Mental Health Assessment form (formerly Mental Health Disorder) has also been shortened with unnecessary information removed and language updated
This broader project to reduce burden from forms is a collaboration with our Joint Forms Committee and Bilateral Burnout Task Force, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Red Tape Reduction, the cabinet office and the form owners, including the MTO. The Joint Forms Committee is a sub-committee of the Physician Services Committee advocating to reduce the burden that forms place on the entire health-care system
The mission of the OMA Forms Committee is to advocate on behalf of physicians and to improve patient care by reducing the administrative burden that forms place on the entire health-care system. The committee is dedicated to ensuring appropriate physician remuneration for any forms requiring their completion and to constantly review and improve the process, include the use of new technologies.
The work of the committee includes:
- Reviewing new and existing forms
- Eliminating the use of unnecessary forms
- Encouraging fewer and simpler forms
- Improving standards and appropriateness
- Recommending all new forms and processes be uniform, generic and digital
- Constantly rethinking the role of physicians in entering data into forms
The Committee provides the OMA with input on specific forms, often in consultation with OMA sections, assemblies and individual members. All forms requiring physician completion may be considered, including those from both the federal and provincial governments and their agencies, the insurance industry or third parties.
Advocacy
The OMA Forms Committee advocates for our members with the following stakeholders:
- Government of Ontario and its agencies (Bilateral Burnout Committee, Ministry of Red Tape Reduction)
- Canadian Medical Association
- Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association
- Canada Revenue Agency
Key accomplishments
Assistive Devices Program Application for Funding Hearing Devices form
As a result of the hard work and tenacious efforts of the OMA Forms Committee and Bilateral Forms Committee, the Ministry of Health no longer requires a physician signature on the ADP Application for Funding Hearing Devices form. Effective Jan. 29, 2024, eligible Ontarians now only require the signature of an audiologist or speech language pathologist who is registered with the ADP program as an authorizer. The version of the form requiring a prescriber signature and an authorizer signature will continue to be accepted; however, physicians have been removed as prescribers effective immediately.
Read an update and additional background on this item.
Medical Certification of Stillbirth form
The committee brought forward a recommendation that a fee code be implemented in the schedule of benefits for completion of a Medical Certification of Stillbirth (MCOS) form. This became effective July 1, 2023. The physician service of completing a MCOS is eligible for payment under fee codes A772/C772. This service is payable to the physician who personally completes the Medical Certificate of Stillbirth and includes counselling of family members rendered at the same visit.
Respond to member queries
The Committee reviewed and provided input to queries regarding the Ministry of Health First-time Application for Funding Home Oxygen Therapy form (014-2451-67E), pharmacy drug substitution requests, OSAP Disability Verification form, standardization of insurance forms, hospital centralized requisitions, ADP Hearing Aid funding form, and the CRA Disability Tax Credit Certificate (T-2201E) form.
MAID Clinician B and C forms
As a result of the new bill C-7, MAID introduced some changes to the Clinician Aid B Primary Medical Practitioner or Nurse Practitioner Medical Assistance in Dying Aid, and Clinician Aid C Secondary Medical Practitioner or Nurse Practitioner Medical Assistance in Dying Aid. The Committee reviewed and approved the revisions.
Committee members
The Forms Committee is governed by a committee charter and is supported by the Economics, Policy and Research department. The committee members are:
- Dr. Scott Elliott, chair (Family medicine)
- Dr. Debbie Dyke (Family medicine)
- Dr. Jane Purvis (Rheumatology)
- Dr. Marilyn Crabtree (Family medicine)
What is admin burden?
The Canadian Medical Association defines administrative burden as the following: Physician admin burden can be characterized by excessive volume of administrative tasks, redundancies and inefficiencies in the health system, low-value tasks that yield minimal benefit for the patient or the health system and admin tasks for which physicians do not receive appropriate compensation.
The impacts of physician admin burden are felt by physicians, the health system and patients.
An administrative task shifts from being part of a physician’s workload to being a burden when the task demands a disproportionate amount of effort relative to the value it generates for patients and the health system.
Committee activities
The Committee meets regularly to address current issues and provide feedback on various forms and programs.
2023 activities
Ongoing projects
- Investigate the completion and payment of government and third-party forms
- Review referral forms and processes regarding consultations
- Examine physician burnout related to forms
- The transition of paper-based forms to digital format
- Ways to ease the process of form management