Examining experiences and system impacts of publicly funded episodic virtual care: protocol for a cross-provincial...

Health systems are under pressure as one in five Canadians have no regular place for primary care, with many experiencing substantial travel times and delays in accessing care. In the context of these urgent needs, platforms for virtual care offer immediate access to care in 'walk-in' style format, with limited continuity for ongoing health needs or coordination with other health services. We refer to these services as episodic virtual care (EVC), to distinguish them from virtual services offered in longitudinal primary care. The governments of Nova Scotia (NS) and New Brunswick (NB) both offer publicly funded EVC and offer a unique opportunity for research.The overarching goal of this work is to learn from the implementation of EVC in NS and NB to understand experiences and system impacts, includingWhat are patient perceptions and experiences of EVC and how do these differ by patient characteristics?What are the characteristics of patients who use EVC and of clinicians who deliver it?What are the system impacts of EVC?

We will use a cross-sectional survey conducted through an online questionnaire to explore patient perceptions and experiences with EVC. We will also examine how these differ based on the type of care needed, age, gender, residence (urban or rural), immigration and language preference. We will use linked administrative data and quasi-experimental analysis to assess the impacts of EVC on visits to community-based primary care (including in-person walk-in clinics), emergency department visits, prescriptions and referrals for other health services like laboratory testing, imaging and consulting specialist physicians.

This proposal has been reviewed and received approval from the Nova Scotia Health Research Ethics Board. Findings will identify the impacts and trade-offs in the deployment of EVC, which will inform primary care planning. In addition to traditional academic publications and information provided to primary care patients/the public, this study will inform decision-makers across multiple jurisdictions as they contend with the challenge of meeting patients' immediate care needs for access to primary care, while seeking to improve coordination and integration of systems as a whole.