Quebec to free up 310,000 medical appointments by cutting doctors’ paperwork

A doctor consults a file in a hospital. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is proposing new draft regulations to further reduce physician paperwork and free up 310,000 medical appointments, according to his office.

François Legault’s government says it wants to abolish “the requirement of a medical prescription for the reimbursement of services covered by insurers, such as physiotherapy.”

Medical consultations for the reimbursement of insured technical aids are also expected to be eliminated, except in exceptional cases.

The draft regulation is set to be published on Wednesday in the Official Gazette for a 45-day public consultation period.

It stems from Bill 68, which was passed in the fall of 2024.

“We are doing everything we can to lighten the workload of physicians so they can devote more time to patients,” said Dubé in a news release. “This draft regulation will help free up many front-line appointment slots and improve access to care by placing the real needs of patients at the heart of our health care system.”

A first series of measures to reduce the administrative burden on doctors was announced last year.

This included the introduction of a single form for private insurers to standardize the documents that doctors are required to fill out.

It also marked the end of doctor’s notes for sick leave from work, spanning up to three days.

With the new draft regulation, the government estimates that 590,000 appointments could be freed up annually.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 11, 2025.