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<p>Health human resource constraints in Canada have left millions of patients without timely access to primary care (PC), leading many to attend emergency departments (ED) to see a doctor. We evaluated changes in service use and costs resulting from the addition of virtual physicians to HealthLink BC’s 8-1-1 program. Visits to ED and PC within 30 days and healthcare costs were measured with time series data from 445,630 telehealth users. The virtual physician intervention was associated with 16.14 (<i>p</i> = 0.001, 95% CI = 25.95–6.33) fewer ED visits and 106.14 (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001, 95% CI = 74.78–137.49) more PC visits in 30 days per 1000 patients. Patients above age 15, without a known chronic illness or existing relationship with a PC provider, had higher PC follow-up and patient-paid medical travel costs; healthcare system costs were neutral over a year. Long-term health outcomes from increased PC follow-up and variability in the amount of medical travel costs paid by patients will be important economic parameters to consider in Canadian health policy evaluations.</p>

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Changes in emergency and primary care use after adding virtual physicians to HealthLink BC’s 8-1-1 program

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月13日

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  • S. Cressman,
  • K. Stewart,
  • F. X. Scheuermeyer,
  • L. Hedden,
  • R. Duncan,
  • L. Riches,
  • R. B. Abu-Laban,
  • D. Raff,
  • J. Assali,
  • H. Novak Lauscher,
  • K. Halani,
  • B. Wong,
  • S. Sundhu,
  • K. Ho

摘要

Health human resource constraints in Canada have left millions of patients without timely access to primary care (PC), leading many to attend emergency departments (ED) to see a doctor. We evaluated changes in service use and costs resulting from the addition of virtual physicians to HealthLink BC’s 8-1-1 program. Visits to ED and PC within 30 days and healthcare costs were measured with time series data from 445,630 telehealth users. The virtual physician intervention was associated with 16.14 (p = 0.001, 95% CI = 25.95–6.33) fewer ED visits and 106.14 (p < 0.001, 95% CI = 74.78–137.49) more PC visits in 30 days per 1000 patients. Patients above age 15, without a known chronic illness or existing relationship with a PC provider, had higher PC follow-up and patient-paid medical travel costs; healthcare system costs were neutral over a year. Long-term health outcomes from increased PC follow-up and variability in the amount of medical travel costs paid by patients will be important economic parameters to consider in Canadian health policy evaluations.