TORONTO – A new study shows female family physicians spend 15 to 20 per cent more time with their patients than their male colleagues across a wide range of clinical visits, revealing what physicians have long reported anecdotally.
The findings are being published on Jan. 14 in the journal Canadian Family Physician from researchers with Healthcare Evaluative Research (HER) at the Ontario Medical Association and McMaster University, which supports OMA research on the gender pay gap.
Paired with a 2021 JAMA study that analyzed data from more than 30,000 physicians and found a 13.5 per cent pay gap between male and female physicians, the findings suggest women in family medicine are delivering more care per patient but earning less overall for the additional time spent.
Our research quantifies for the first time what has only been known anecdotally in Canada. Female family physicians spend 15 to 20 per cent more time per patient encounter than their male colleagues across a broad range of services,
said Dr. Lyn Sibley, Senior Director of HER at the OMA.
This means that in a fee for service system like Ontario’s, where delivering the maximum number of services possible is the priority, physicians who spend more time with their patients are at a disadvantage.
For the most commonly billed family medicine visits, female family doctors reported spending nearly four minutes longer per appointment than male family doctors. This pattern held true across almost all commonly billed services, with women spending more time in 19 of the 20 services analyzed. The only exception was the Papanicolaou test, where time spent was the same.
Spending more time with patients matters. Family doctors who listen closely and communicate effectively are more likely to uncover critical details, make accurate diagnoses, and build trust. Patients who feel heard report stronger relationships with their physicians and have better health outcomes, yet the compensation system generally rewards speed.
Current payment models do not account for time spent, thereby potentially structurally disadvantaging female physicians in terms of overall earnings,
said Dr. Boris Kralj, an adjunct assistant professor at the McMaster University Department of Economics and the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA).
The gender pay gap in family practice could be reduced if current fee structures were replaced by, or amended to include, time-based payments.
Physicians who take longer with appointments typically see fewer patients in a day, which results in lower overall earnings. To earn the same income as their male counterparts, a female family physician would need to work roughly two additional hours per day.
Over the course of a year, this difference amounts to an estimated income gap of about $45,500 for a physician working a standard schedule.
To truly close the gender pay gap in medicine, researchers are urging the adoption of a compensation model that values patient outcomes, not patient volume. Fair pay should reflect both the quality and quantity of care delivered, especially when better care leads to healthier patients.
The study also found the gender gap in service times was less pronounced among international medical graduates and physicians who completed residency training outside Canada, suggesting that training and cultural norms influence practice styles.
In 2025, 1,055 family physicians in active practice across Ontario completed a self-reported survey on the duration in minutes of the most commonly provided family physician services.
The Ontario Medical Association represents Ontario’s 50,000-plus physicians, medical students and retired physicians, advocating for and supporting doctors while strengthening the leadership role of doctors in caring for patients. Our vision is to be the trusted voice in transforming Ontario’s health-care system.
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