Access to virtual care in jeopardy after fee structure changes
The province is set to cut fees it pays doctors for virtual care visits on Thursday, impacting millions of patients across Ontario who rely on the service.
Robyn Edwards turned to virtual care after losing her family doctor two years ago.
"The Rocket Doctor system has been a saving grace for me," Edwards said. "It has prevented me a few times from going to an emergency room."
Edwards needs annual biopsies and relies on virtual doctors for referrals.
"Thankfully last week I was able to get a referral from Rocket Doctor but if this was after December 1st I wouldn't be able to do that," she said "I don't know what I'm going to do next year. I'm on a waitlist, I've joined every list that I come across."
As of Dec. 1, the province is cutting fees it pays physicians for virtual care visits after reaching an agreement with the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
"We're talking about 50 per cent reduction," said Dr. William Cherniak, a physician and founder and CEO of virtual care platform Rocket Doctor.
He also started an online petition calling for technology to be embraced to ensure access.
"The way that things are changing is it will become essentially impossible for physicians to provide the comprehensive coordinated care that they've been doing on Rocket Doctor for any patient that they haven't previously seen in person," he said. "And so millions of people are going to lose access to care tomorrow."
In a statement the OMA said "there was no publicly funded virtual care in Ontario before the pandemic, except for limited services through the Ontario Telemedicine Network."
"The OMA believes the best care is inside the patient-doctor relationship. Virtual care is fully funded by OHIP under this new agreement when there is this ongoing relationship."
For one-off visits when physicians don't have a relationship with a patient, OHIP will pay the doctor $20 for a video visit and $15 for a telephone visit, a dramatic drop from what is currently paid.
In a statement the ministry of health writes it "has taken a patient first approach to ensure that Ontarians will continue to have access to the care they need, when they need it" and that "virtual care is intended to complement in-person care, not replace it."
"It is frustrating but it's also devastating," said Edwards. "I'm grateful that I'm relatively healthy and can advocate for myself. This is taking away a very essential service from people that have accessibility issues, who just can't get out to see a doctor and we are now in a virtual world and it just made perfect sense that this was a service being offered virtually and to have it taken away I don't get it."
Edwards recently received her licence plate sticker refund in the mail and says she'd rather have greater access to healthcare.
"I'm scared for those who have no choice but to go to an emergency and I'm worried about the future of our healthcare," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.
1 killed, 3 injured including toddler, after Hwy. 417 crash in Ottawa
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.