Initial disability medical forms harmonized to help relieve physician administrative burden

TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2025 /CNW/ - Canada's life and health insurers are simplifying the disability claims process, relieving administrative burden for physicians and ensuring those who need to be away from work for medical reasons can access their benefits more quickly.

Insurers are moving to one harmonized disability medical form that can be used to initiate both short- and long-term disability claims, and are progressively retiring their existing company-specific forms.

"Reducing the number of medical forms is important, particularly at a time when our healthcare system is under strain," said Stephen Frank, President & CEO, Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA). "Life and health insurers, who deliver healthcare benefits to 27 million Canadians, are committed to working together with government and healthcare partners on solutions to improve Canada's healthcare system."

Today's announcement highlights the collaborative work that has been underway for more than five years with insurers, governments and medical associations to help eliminate administrative burden for physicians. Previously, multiple disability medical forms were reduced to four. Now, insurers have gone a step further by introducing one harmonized medical form.

Insurers will accept the new form immediately but recognize that they or some plan sponsors may need up to a year to fully transition to the new form and upload it across all websites.

"The CLHIA and its members encourage all businesses who provide workplace benefits to adopt this new form, so that we can work together to reduce administrative burden in our healthcare system," said Joan Weir, Vice President, Group Benefits, CLHIA.

This work builds on previous initiatives by insurers to further reduce healthcare administrative burden by eliminating the need for physician referrals for services such as physiotherapy and chiropractors.

The new disability medical form is available on the CLHIA website.

Support from healthcare partners

"The Canadian Medical Association appreciates that the CLHIA and the insurance industry want to be a part of the solution by working together to streamline disability forms into one single form. We acknowledge the CLHIA involving physicians in the development of this single form. When doctors are doing paperwork, they inevitably have less time to devote to their patients. One harmonized disability medical form will help simplify the process for physicians and patients."
     - Dr. Margot Burnell, President CMA

"Administrative burden remains a major challenge for all physicians, especially family physicians, in Ontario and takes time away from patient care. We welcome the support of industry partners like the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association in addressing this challenge. A harmonized disability form will help physicians focus on patients, not paperwork. " 
     - Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman, president of the Ontario Medical Association, allergist and clinical immunologist. 

"The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) is pleased to see that all Canadian insurers recognize the weight of the administrative burden on family physicians and that they are able to work together to reduce the magnitude of the burden. This is a strong signal that employers -- especially CISSSs and CIUSSSs, which themselves manage disabilities during waiting periods of up to two years -- must follow suit. "
     - Dr. Marc-André Amyot, President and CEO of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ)

"Reducing physician administrative burden is a win for the healthcare system and Nova Scotia is ahead of the curve. The CLHIA's standardized forms are already integrated into physicians' electronic medical record systems. Now to simplify by having just one disability form will make it easier for Nova Scotia physicians who complete more than 7,500 disability forms a year for our patients."
     - Dr. Amanda MacDonald Green, Physician Administrative Burden Advisor, Doctors Nova Scotia

"We appreciate that the CLHIA has included the input of physicians who will use the form, which helps ensure meaningful and effective changes. The harmonized form will also streamline the process for patients to obtain supports they need while facing challenging times in their lives. We are encouraged by this positive step forward and we continue to work with organizations, like the CLHIA, to continue to reduce administrative burden for BC family physicians. "
     - Dr. Katherine Bell, BC College of Family Physicians (BCCFP) President

"On behalf of over 18,000 family physicians across the province, the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) is proud to support CLHIA's efforts to reduce administrative burden and enable physicians to focus on delivering patient-centered care.

This change by Canada's life and health insurers to simplify and standardize medical disability forms will decrease the time family physicians spend filling out paperwork so that patients can access benefits quickly, when they need it most."
     - Deepy Sur, CEO, Ontario College of Family Physicians

About the CLHIA

The CLHIA is a voluntary association whose member companies account for 99 per cent of Canada's life and health insurance business. These insurers provide a wide range of financial security products including life insurance, annuities (including TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and pensions) and supplementary health insurance to nearly 30 million Canadians. They hold nearly $1.2 trillion in assets in Canada and employ over 180,000 Canadians.

SOURCE Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc.

For more information: Karen Leiva, AVP, Strategic Communications & Public Affairs, CLHIA, [email protected]