More is more: 11-year analysis finds dramatic jumps in how many bread and butter tasks family doctors are doing

A new analysis of Canadian patient health records suggests that family doctors have experience a “significant increase” their workload in the last decade as the of complexity of managing each condition expands.The analysis, published in the May/June 2026 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, looked at EHR data through the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network. Data from 903 family physicians between 2011 and 2021 were included in the analysis, which looked at patient contacts, laboratory tests, referrals made, and prescriptions per physician. During this time period, the average number of patients contacts that a family physician sees in a year increased 46.8%, from 2,484.2 in 2011 to 3,647.8 in 2021. Family physicians also saw slightly more unique patients on average in 2021 (712.7) than in 2011 (621.9), representing an increase of 14.6%.Of any metric, the biggest jump during this timeframe was the average number of referrals physicians were ordering per year. In 2011, the average FP made 240.9 referrals in 2011, but that rose to 434.2 in 2021, representing an increase of 80.2%. Laboratory tests also saw a substantial increase of 68.5% from 6,597.1 to 11,116.0, while the average number of prescriptions jumped 43.1%, from 2,423.3 to 3,468.7.Was this increase being driven simply by patients making more appointments? Indeed, patients on average were seeing their doctor more often, as the number of FP visits per patient saw a 20.9% increase, from 4.3 to 5.4. However, there was also an increase amount of workload per patient visit. Although prescription rates per encounter remained consistent, laboratory tests per encounter increased by 29% while referral rates increased by 57%.One might assume that an increase in chronic conditions amid an ageing population would be driving these trends. However, the researchers noted that the incidence rate of chronic conditions remained stable during this period. Instead, they suggest this could be driven by the increasing complexity in managing such chronic conditions.“This would be consistent with changes in chronic disease management guidelines (eg, improved screening for early detection, advances in laboratory tests for more comprehensive information for diagnoses), which might contribute to increases in laboratory testing,” the researchers wrote.“Furthermore, increasing patient demand for specific tests and investigations, even when those tests are not in line with best practice, might also be contributing.”The researchers suggest measures to streamline administrative work in primary care, such as improving EHR technological interoperability tor leveraging AI to reduce the time spent on inefficient tasks, such as faxing referrals.“Task sharing/task shifting also represents a potential solution, but careful thought into appropriate training and tools needed by team members to equip them to take on this work will be necessary,” they wrote.

More is more: 11-year analysis finds dramatic jumps in how many bread and butter tasks family doctors are doing

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