Doctors in the United States spend almost four times more on health insurance administrative costs than their neighbors up north, according to new data.

Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Toronto found per-physician costs in the Unites States averaged $82,975 each year, while Ontario-based doctors averaged $22,205. The difference is primarily attributed to Canada's single-payer health care system, which researchers say is simpler.

Canadian physicians follow a single set of rules while U.S. doctors grapple with different sets of regulations, procedures and forms mandated by each health insurance plan or payer. Though American doctors spend only about one hour more each week personally interacting with health plans than Canadian doctors do, it's a different burden here. Nurses and other medical staff in the United  States spend 20.6 hours per physician per week on administrative duties; their Canadian counterparts spend only 2.5 hours.