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Ottawa (14 Dec. 2021) — A new report from the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) looks at how the failure to make virtual health care part of the public health care system is leading to health care being privatized. Unless governments ensure that virtual health care services are part of the public system, the growth of virtual health care will lead to more of our health care system being privatized. If that is allowed to happen, instead of improving the quality of care Canadians receive, virtual health care could end up undermining it.
COVID-19 pandemic led to increased use of virtual health care
Virtual health care includes any health care services delivered by phone, video, text messaging, e-mail or remote monitoring. While virtual care has been around for some time, particularly telehealth, it was not used much. This changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. While the use of virtual health care is down from the levels it reached right after the pandemic started, it is still far higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Corporations providing virtual health care offering 2-tier care
In recent years, a growing number of corporations have set up virtual health care clinics where people communicate with medical practitioners via videoconference or text. Even when the services these corporations offer are covered by provincial health care plans there are issues.
The model most corporations use is a virtual “walk-in clinic,” where people usually see a different medical practitioner each time, and there is little continuity of care. Because these corporations focus on the most lucrative services, they are also in a position to poach staff from public services. This adds to the staff shortages that are an issue in many places, particularly rural communities.
But, there’s a more serious problem. At the same time that they are offering services paid for by provincial health care systems, some of the corporations running virtual clinics are providing those same services on a "fee-for-service basis" — with the promise of shorter waiting times. Because this allows people to buy their way to the front of the line — meaning that who gets treated first is based on money not need — this is supposed to be illegal. But, both the federal and provincial governments appear so fascinated by the shiny new technology associated with virtual health care that they haven’t stopped to consider how virtual health care could be implemented in a way that is compatible with the Canada Health Act.
Virtual health care should be used to strengthen the public system
Properly used, virtual health care can be used to strengthen the public system. Public control makes it possible to ensure virtual health care is used to improve access to people in communities where there are shortages of medical practitioners. It also makes it easier to address privacy and security issues and prevent abuses.
As the COVID-19 pandemic reminded us, governments have the ability to put major programs in place quickly. What’s needed is the political will.