Why the Long Waits for Applications Processing?
The Lame Excuse of Workload, and Priority, and High Volumes
I would like to find out why the approval process
for any application is months long. I possess a B.A. in Organizational
Psychology with a minor in Statistics and I know bad performance when I see it.
From my observations so far I can’t help but conclude there is high probability
that the wait list and delay is a deliberately structured obstruction of the
purpose of the Regulations. Considering the purpose of the forms, I have
examined the forms and they are not all that complex. As far as the processing
of these applications: their approval should be a simple verification that all
the required information is provided, that it appears to be correct and that it
is keypunched into your system. I specifically note that processing is not a
consideration of the merit of any applicant or condition. The merit of the
applicant and his condition is supplied by the submission of a completed Form
B1 or B2 and MMAD’s function is only to confirm its conformity to MMAR
requirements re its manner of completion. If all the information is provided is
deemed complete and acceptable, approval of the application should be automatic
and not be a matter of months.
Please advise if these assumptions are not correct
and how they depart from reality.
Based on the foregoing assumptions, I put myself in
place of MMAD and I took the time to fill in every piece of information
required to complete the 5 most common Application forms, A,B1,B2,C,D and then
processed and checked them for accuracy as a batch. The results are not
impressive given the complexity of the task and the skill sets required of any
one of your data entry personnel.
The task of processing seems simple. To check every
one of the 5 forms I was required to look a total of 144 times at a blank
filled with usually a one word answer or a little box to be checked. In only a
half dozen of these questions was there a requirement for more than a one or
two sentence answer that had to be typed in.
For
each of these 144 responses your clerk must look at a the answer in a blank,
read it, verify it is what was asked for and type not usually more than a dozen
letters to enter the data into your system. If I allow a complete minute for
each blank to be verified I come up with a maximum process time of just over
two hours. Considering that with my ability as a typist I managed to complete
the form on my PC in 1 hour, it is reasonable to conclude that the time
required for a professional government claims examiner to complete the task as
part of a repetitive routine should be significantly faster. Please correct me
if I am wrong.
Why
is there a backlog and waitlist of months for applications that can be
processed in a matter of minutes? I want to find out and so far no one will
give me straight answers.
The
vast majority of applications consist of a 2 or more of the following
Form
A :Form B1 :Form
B2: Form C :Form D
Following you will find
a little exercise in the analysis of your application wait list problem. The
results require some explanation. In addition to the processing problem I have
identified a couple of other areas that are problematic and I intend to follow
up with questions regarding each.
“Health
Canada is currently
experiencing a temporary delay in processing applications for an authorization
to possess and/or a licence to produce marihuana for medical purposes, due to a
sharp rise in the number of applications received in recent months.
To
address this situation, Health Canada has
implemented a strategy that is improving the efficiency of its review and
authorization process and will restore standard processing times of 8 to 10
weeks.”
Who are you trying to kid?
MMAD has had a long backlog for years and the MMAR were revised in 2006 to
shorten the wait time. I note the “standard processing times of 8 to 10 weeks”.
That is a ridiculous time span for an activity that, even allowing for bureaucratic slack should take no
more than one week considering that MMAD’s role is confined to “review
and authorization”
of simple applications.
I took the liberty of completely
filling out Forms A, B1, B2, C, and D and then took a critical look at exactly
what had to be reviewed and authorized. It adds up to 140 blanks and boxes to
verify as required and readable, and includes only three areas that require
more than cursory attention.
I was liberal with time
allowances. I allowed 10 seconds for a clerical entry: i.e. most are answers to
very simple: yes, no or tick a box. Think about ten seconds, hold your breath
for that long. How long does it take to look at a blank and see if it has a signature
in it?
The 5 minute allowance for
Medical and Grower is more than adequate: Each has 9 entries at 10 seconds @
and the balance of 3+ minutes to make a judgement as to acceptability.
The final review requires
no judgement as to acceptability of the application or the medical condition
unless there is an omission or problem. In short, if all the blanks are
properly filled in then approval should be automatic.
Entries to be Reviewed
|
Number of Entries
|
Time allowed (each)
|
Time (Seconds)
|
Time (Total)
|
Clerical Entries
|
120
|
10 sec
|
1200
|
20 min
|
Medical Information
|
10
|
30 sec
|
300
|
5 min
|
Grower Information
|
10
|
30 sec
|
300
|
5 min
|
Final Review
|
1
|
5 min
|
300
|
5 min
|
Total Process Time
|
35 min
|
|||
I simply cannot
understand how an application of 5 forms that, takes less than one hour to
thoroughly check on receipt and verify as complete and acceptable, somehow gets
delayed a matter of months by MMAD processing.
And this is the crew of
efficiency experts Revising the Regulations?
Not my choice!
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