Assessment of e-visits within the Family Practice setting in British Columbia 2013/2014

Project number: 
15-041
Approval date: 
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Principal Investigator: 
McGrail,Kimberlyn
Institution: 
Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR)
Funding Agency: 
Canada Health Infoway
Datasets requested: 
ACG Case Mix Group (Johns Hopkins University)
Consolidation - demographic (Ministry of Health)
PharmaNet
consolidation - census geocodes
College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC
Medical Services Plan (BC Ministry of Health)
Consolidation registry (Ministry of Health)
Research objective: 

Primary research questions:

1. Do telehealth services (e-visits) in British Columbia (BC) substitute or complement existing patterns of primary health care?

2. How does the primary health care utilization pattern of patients accessing e-visits differ from similar patients?

a) Do e-visit services providers refer to medical and surgical specialists? (or do they refer back to regular general practitioners)?

b) Do e-visit services providers initiate prescriptions for long-term medications? (or do they only do medication refills)?

c) Do e-visit service providers order lab tests suggestive of longitudinal patient management (e.g. Hemoglobin A1c, Albumin:Creatinine Ratio, lipid profiles)?

d) Are there visit-specific conditions that are well indicated to improving access for visits related to types of diagnosis(family practice consultation, sexually transmitted infections, or mental health)?

Secondary research question:

1. What are the demographic characteristics of patients utilizing e-visits and the clinicians providing this service in the province of BC?

Hypotheses:

1. Telehealth services (e-visits) in British Columbia (BC) complement existing patterns of primary health care.

2a. E-visit service providers do refer to medical and surgical specialists.

2b. E-visit service providers do initiate prescriptions for long-term medications.

2c. E-visit service providers order lab tests suggestive of longitudinal patient management.

2d. There are visit specific conditions for which improved access via e-visits is well indicated.

3. Demographic characteristics of patients utilizing e-visits and the clinicians providing this service in the province of BC are similar to their counterparts.

Publications: 

Journal Publication

  • McGrail KM, Ahuja MA, Leaver C. Virtual visits and patient-centered care: Results of a patient survey and observational study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 19(5): e177. 2017. FA

Presentation of research material (poster/seminar/lecture etc.)

  • Leaver C, McGrail KM. An assessment of virtual visits in British Columbia. [panel presentation]. Annual ehealth conference. Vancouver, BC. 7 June 2016.
  • Virtual visits: Friend or foe of patient-centred care? Canada Health Infoway CIO Forum, Vancouver, BC. 8 February 2017.

    Virtual visits: Friend or foe of patient-centred care? Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. Ottawa, ON. 3 February 2017.

    Virtual visits: Friend or foe of patient-centred care? UBC School of Population and Public Health Rounds, Vancouver, BC. 8 December 2017.

  • Virtual visits in Canada. Webinar hosted by HealthDirect Australia. 28 March 2017

Page last revised: September 2, 2019