LETTER: It will now cost you to get virtual healthcare

SooToday received the following letter to the editor from Jordan Jack, local Pharmasave owner and walk-in clinic director, regarding upcoming provincial cuts to virtual healthcare:

Dec. 1 marks the beginning of the end for virtual walk-in clinics in Ontario due to a drastic decrease in compensation paid to virtual (off-site) doctors. Effective tomorrow, the Ontario government is cutting pay to doctors offering their services on-line by 80 per cent, despite those services being the same as in-person physicians.

Sault Ste. Marie has already seen one clinic close in anticipation to these funding changes and it is no surprise that four other clinics reduced their hours earlier this month. North Bay had six virtual walk-in clinics and now only one remains.

Sault Ste. Marie will be disproportionately affected by this change due to its dependence on virtual walk-in clinics as primary care physicians.  

Currently, there are six in-person virtual walk-in clinics in Sault Ste. Marie, down from seven last month. Collectively they see over 100 patients daily.

Although there are limitations to what a physician can do virtually, these can be overcome by having skilled professionals working on site (not-virtually) providing a clearer picture for the doctor. At the Eastend Walk-in Clinic, there is a full-time registered nurse on site providing clinical care to make the experience as near to having the doctor in the room.

Furthermore, the Eastend Walk-in clinic employs a full-time medical receptionist making the operation indistinguishable from an in-person clinic, except for the location of the doctor.

In order to sustain the Eastend Walk-in Clinic, changes will need to be made to make up for the lost revenue. Unfortunately, with an 80 per cent reduction in fees, it is not possible to continue operations, employing two full-time staff members and a doctor.

Effective Dec. 1, there will be a $12 fee per visit to the clinic. The other alternative, close to clinic, is likely the eventual outcome given the provincial governments position on virtual medicine.

This new fee means that patients without a family doctor will be paying for medical services, whereas those with a family doctor do not, the first very unfortunate step towards private health care.

This will affect everyone even those with a family physician. Several Sault Ste. Marie physicians have indicated they will retire next year and it's unclear if there are replacements for them. Patients who can’t afford to pay the fee will be forced to attend emergency rooms to get prescription refills, a very expensive way for the government to provide health care.

Others will choose to discontinue their medications altogether which will eventually cost the provincial government a great deal more as uncontrolled chronic conditions will eventually end up in the emergency rooms further straining overworked emergency departments.

The Westend Walk-in Clinic will close over Christmas as it does every year, removing the only non-virtual walk-in clinic in Sault Ste. Marie. This Monday patients started lining up at 7:30 a.m. in the -3 weather for the Westend Clinic that opens at 9 a.m.

Ironically, last Monday was also the busiest day ever at the (virtual) Eastend Walk-in Clinic seeing 45 patients. This included many patients getting refills on their maintenance medications and children suffering from flu symptoms. If the Ontario government goes through with their cuts to virtual physicians, health care in Sault Ste. Marie is about to get a lot worse.

– Jordan Jack