Female doctors in Ontario spend more time with patients than male counterparts, study suggests

New research in co-authored with Economics faculty Arthur Sweetman and Boris Kralj sheds light on a persistent gender-based inequity in primary care.

Featured on CBC, the study, published in Canadian Family Physician and based on survey responses from more than 1000 Ontario family physicians, finds that female physicians spend 15 to 20 percent more time with patients than their male collogues.

Co-author Boris Kralj, adjunct faculty member in McMaster’s Department of Economics, notes the scale of the imbalance:

“A female physician would have to work a day that’s two hours longer than a male counterpart to get the same income… That results, obviously, in overwork and burnout.”

Across 20 commonly billed services, female physicians reported spending nearly four additional minutes per appointment. The only exception was the Papanicolaou test, where time spent was equal. The study highlights how communication expectations shape workload, with Kralj explaining that patients often bring more psychosocial and complex concerns to female physicians because they anticipate a more empathetic interaction.

The findings align with broader evidence showing that women physicians frequently care for patients with greater medical and social complexity. Despite this, gender-based pay gaps persist across the profession.

Kralj emphasizes the need for structural reform, pointing to Alberta’s recent shift toward compensating physicians for time spent rather than volume of services:

“We need to move away from focusing on just throughput and volume, to quality and time. The payment systems need to be modernized.”

McMaster co-author Arthur Sweetman, also a faculty member in the Department of Economics, contributed to the study’s design and analysis, reinforcing McMaster’s leadership in evidence-based health-policy research.

The Ontario Medical Association has highlighted the study as part of ongoing efforts to address gender-based disparities in medicine.

The journal article is available at the Official Journal of the college of Family Physicians of Canada.

You can read the CBC article on the CBC website.

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