OMA research finds virtual care not associated with strain on emergency departments
OMA research finds virtual care not associated with strain on emergency departments
Ontario patients did not turn to emergency departments as a substitute for in-person visits during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That from new research from the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and the records of its nearly 8,000 doctors.
Medical professionals said they're not surprised with the findings; many doctors had to make a switch to virtual when the government paused most non-emergency services.
"When medically appropriate, virtual care is incredibly convenient. You don't need to take a day off work or a child out of school or put an elderly parent in the vehicle and drive them when the weather's bad," said OMA president Dr. Rose Zacharias.
According to the OMA, in 2018, only four per cent of family doctors offered video visits, while virtual care now accounts for more than a quarter of all visits.
What makes this important, the association said it didn't find evidence people were going to the emergency room because in-person care was less available.
Zacharias said every Ontarian knows emergency rooms right now are strained.
"It's only natural to ask why, somethings new and different like virtual care being done by a good majority of family doctors from their offices, is that contributing to the strain on the emergency departments and this study released today shows us the answer is clearly ‘no,’" she said.
He told CTV News virtual appointments have proven to be a useful tool among their physicians.
"When you ask patients, lots of patients appreciate that option. Especially here in northern Ontario and in the middle of winter," Courtemanche said.
"I think it's made access easier and of course there are issues, you have to have the Internet infrastructure, both at your clinic and in the patients' home, you have to have appropriate bandwidth, all of those things come into play so far some patients, maybe it's not as easy but for people who live far from the clinic and are trying to get access, it's easier," he added.
The OMA study looked at records of 7,936 physicians in family health groups and family health organizations from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Ottawa Thursday evening for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could see asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits are at record lows and down 44 per cent from last year, new figures from Statistics Canada show.
Two Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) sisters from Montreal are on a mission that is close to their hearts: to save their ancestors' first language by developing video games young and old can play.
Zellers has opened the first of 25 new locations within Hudson's Bay stores across the country. The Canadian retail chain launched 12 stores in Ontario and Alberta Thursday, along with a new e-commerce website.
Embattled South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom will resign next month after a US$3.5 billion accounting error in the year-end financial report he oversaw.
The quick thinking and immediate actions of two people are credited with possibly saving the life of a Midland councillor after he collapsed at a meeting Wednesday evening.
An Ontario man said he was shocked when his truck was stolen not once but twice, and the second time it was taken he was surprised to discover he was no longer covered for theft.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Ottawa Thursday evening for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Ottawa on a foggy Thursday evening, kicking off a whirlwind two-day visit to the capital. Ottawa police and the city of Ottawa have warned residents and visitors will see an increased police presence across the downtown core, and there will be "significant traffic and transit disruptions" during the visit.
The resurrection of Zellers is officially underway with the Cambridge location opening its doors to eager shoppers who lined up ahead of the store's official reopening.
The new provincial budget features items specific to southwestern Ontario, including a new English public elementary school in London, Ont. that will serve 556 students and include 88 licensed childcare spaces.
A young Strathroy, Ont. man believes there's a promising way forward in the effort to fight his disease. But, he's being told, right now, that path isn't open to him. Friends and family are stepping up to try and make a case for Kyle McPhee to receive immunotherapy treatments.
After a year-and-a-half without, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) says it’s narrowing in on hiring a permanent chief medical officer of health.
When the permit to construct a replacement span for the Ambassador Bridge expired in the summer of 2022, many thought that would bring an end to a 20-year saga of boarded up homes in the city’s west end.
Friends of Camille Maheux are trying to assemble some of her life's work. The 76-year-old photographer was killed in the Old Montreal fire and her photographs and negatives were destroyed.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could designate all 8,900 kilometres of their shared border as an official crossing under the Safe Third Country Agreement.
The Tim Houston PC government remains firm in their promise they'll fix the health-care system by spending more taxpayer money on health than any previous government before.
The rate of snow and rain falling in the Maritimes will pick up late Thursday afternoon into evening as a weather system makes its way across the region.
Selkirk RCMP have arrested and charged a man after he allegedly killed his dog, smashed out the windows of a home and two cars with an axe, and set fire to a shed on his property.
The Alberta legislature wrapped up its spring sitting Thursday with politicians on both sides of the aisle test-driving insults and expected attack lines ahead of the scheduled May 29 provincial election.
When a former detective with the Vancouver Police Department discovered photos of his home were being used in a rental scam, he decided to start his own investigation.
