Health P.E.I. looking to expand virtual care program while minimizing wait times
Those with a doctor or nurse practitioner would be limited to 2 free consultations a year
Health P.E.I. is planning to expand free virtual health care to everyone on the Island, not just the 35,000 people without a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
But those who do have a primary care provider will be able to access the online service only twice a year.
Andrew MacDougall, executive director of community health and seniors care at Health P.E.I., said the current wait time for free virtual care delivered through the platform Maple is about an hour.
He said if free virtual care was available to all Islanders, all the time, it would be even more difficult to keep up with the demand.
We need to prioritize people who are unaffiliated.— Andrew MacDougall
"We need to prioritize people who are unaffiliated... and we want to be balanced and sensitive and careful as we launch into a new platform that our access times and response times are as compressed as they can be," he said.
Health P.E.I. is calling on virtual care companies to submit proposals on how they can make that happen. It said a key part of the equation is finding a company with enough doctors or nurse practitioners signed up who are licensed to see patients on P.E.I.
The agency hopes it can deliver an expanded virtual care program for about $10 million a year and launch it next fall.
"We want to be able to have a platform that is easily accessible… and have it as user-friendly as it can be," MacDougall said.
Companies have until Dec. 12 to submit proposals.
With files from Steve Bruce