A study led by researchers with the Ontario Medical Association has found no evidence that patients substituted hospital emergency rooms for virtual visits with their family doctor in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The peer-reviewed study was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Researchers say it’s significant given recent calls to reduce virtual service over quality-of-care concerns and E-R burdens.
The study says there was no evidence the pivot to virtual visits by family doctors at the outset of the pandemic led patients to turn to emergency departments instead.
The Canadian Press
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