Controversial telemedicine clinics come to area
Head of local medical society questions need for video-based walk-in clinic here
Walk-in medical clinics where patients are seeing doctors by video have popped up in the Windsor area, leading the president of the local medical society to question why they’re coming here since the technology is largely designed to assist patients in underserved and remote locations, such as northern Ontario.
“I struggle to see what they are adding,” said Dr. Amit Bagga, who represents 460 physician members of the Essex County Medical Society. “Maybe 20 years ago, when we were underserviced, but that’s not the case anymore. You have lots of physicians here of good quality.”
Bagga said he is “puzzled” why a video-based medical walk-in clinic would set up in an area where there is an abundance of family doctors. “As a general theme” medical treatment by physicians “is better done face-to-face,” Bagga said.
“There might be benefits in remote locations. But a place like Windsor you have enough quality physicians to take care of health needs,” he said.
“We have a medical school where a significant number of graduates are choosing to stay in Windsor. A high quality of care exists in Windsor in terms of family medical care.”
Telemedicine, which has been around for more than a decade, opened a few weeks ago at the Good Doctors Walk-In clinic, in the 200 block of Tecumseh Road West. There’s at least one other location, Amherstburg Home Health Care, in the 400 block of Sandwich Street South.
There are only registered nurses at each walk-in clinic, gathering initial information or conducting tests on patients, before a physician from Toronto enters the picture — on a video screen through the Ontario Telemedicine Network.
Registered nurse Victoria Rybaczuk is operating the Tecumseh Road West telemedicine clinic, Good Doctors Walk-In, which is part of a provincewide chain offering only telemedicine.
“I definitely was a bit skeptical at first myself,” she said. “A lot of the older population might rather have a physician present.”
But after a few weeks, reaction has been positive from patients in terms of quick care by webcam at the clinic, which has three Toronto-based physicians available by video.
Nurses, especially in hospitals, often gather the bulk of information from patients, or prepare tests, before a physician steps in for assessment. This is no different, Rybaczuk said.
“Some (walk-in) clinics only have one doctor, so you wait,” she said. “But here, because we have three on-call, we have a much shorter wait time for you to get what you need.”
Rybaczuk said she can act as an advocate for patients or can help explain a procedure or physician’s diagnosis. “Patients have said it’s been very quick or convenient. It’s been very positive — so far, so good.”
The Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network, which oversees health care in the Windsor area, is taking a hands-off approach to the video-operated walk-in clinics.
“Privately operated walk-in clinics are outside the scope of LHIN accountability and so it’s not appropriate for us to comment on their operations,” spokeswoman Shannon Sasseville said.
“We can say, in general, that Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care does provide funding to the Ontario Telemedicine Network with a goal of improving access to care for patients across the province.”
Telemedicine receives $22 million annually from Ontario’s Health Ministry. It initially was designed to provide specialty medical care where none exists — most often in rural areas or northern Ontario where patients otherwise would be forced to travel a great distance.
But as technology has improved, the number of applications for physician care by video continues to expand, Telemedicine CEO Dr. Ed Brown said Wednesday.
There were 786,000 visits in 2016 utilizing Telemedicine in Ontario. Half of those were related to mental health — often for access to psychiatrists since there is such a shortage across Ontario, he said.
But Telemedicine has also filled a huge gap in treating chronic cardiopulmonary or oncology patients — relieving them of the need to travel for appointments. Increasingly, the network is being utilized right into the patient’s own home, Brown said.
“We eliminate a lot of travel — over 200 million kilometres (in 2016),” he said.
“Some patients don’t have — or can’t quickly access — a primary health-care provider,” Brown said. “For some people, the best care is having a provider (in the room), but for other applications we can fill the gaps.”
The expansion into more patient health care by video will continue “quicker than you think,” Brown said.
Windsor Regional Hospital has utilized Telemedicine in a variety of ways since 2010, said April Reed, a nurse who oversees the program for the hospital.
Telemedicine can be used in place of transporting patients from one hospital to another, eliminating the stress of travelling by ambulance or to provide test results by video for physicians, she said.
“We find it very beneficial,” Reed said. “Most patients appreciate how it saved them from travelling. Especially if they might otherwise had to go to Toronto.
“Certainly it’s a wonderful tool for physicians. It’s the wave of the future.”