Was Virtual Care as Safe as In-Person Care? Analyzing Patient Outcomes at Seven and Thirty Days in Ontario during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shawn Mondoux; Frank Battaglia; Anastasia Gayowsky; Natasha Clayton; Caillin Langmann; Paul Miller; Alim Pardhan; Julie Mathews; Alex Drossos; Keerat Grewal

doi:10.12927/hcq.2023.27217

Was Virtual Care as Safe as In-Person Care? Analyzing Patient Outcomes at Seven and Thirty Days in Ontario during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Healthc Q. 2023 Oct;26(3):31-36. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2023.27217.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, in Hamilton, ON; an assistant professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, at the University of Toronto in Toronto, ON; and an emergency physician at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton in Hamilton, ON.
² Is a resident physician at the Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, in Hamilton, ON.
³ Is an analytic epidemiologist at ICES McMaster in Hamilton, ON.
⁴ Is a research assistant working with McMaster University and Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton in Hamilton, ON.
⁵ Is an assistant clinical professor at the Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, and an emergency physician at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton in Hamilton, ON.
⁶ Is an associate clinical professor at the Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, and an emergency physician at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, ON.
⁷ Is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, and an emergency physician at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, ON.
⁸ Is a quality specialist at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, ON.
⁹ Is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University and a psychiatrist at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, ON.
¹⁰ Is a clinican scientist at Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute, Sinai Health, in Toronto, ON; an assistant professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, in Toronto, ON; and an adjunct scientist at ICES in Toronto, ON.

PMID: 38018786
DOI: 10.12927/hcq.2023.27217

Abstract

In 2020, almost overnight, the paradigm for healthcare interactions changed in Ontario. To limit person-to-person transmission of COVID-19, the norm of in-person interactions shifted to virtual care. While this shift was part of broader public health measures and an acknowledgment of patient and societal concerns, it also represented a change in care modalities that had the potential to affect the quality of care provided, as well as short- and long-term patient outcomes. While public policy decisions were being made to moderate the use of virtual care at the end of the declared pandemic, a thorough analysis of short-term patient outcomes was needed to quantify the impact of virtual care on the population of Ontario.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Ontario / epidemiology
Pandemics
Public Health
Public Policy