Ont. patients attending virtual walk-in clinics during pandemic twice as likely to visit ED

Funding structure changes introduced during the pandemic led to the expansion of virtual walk-in clinics to fill a gap in primary care needs. However, the University Health Network shows concern over the quality of care provided through virtual walk-in clinics and a lack of data on how patients use this form of healthcare. Its study looked at patients who visited a family physician at a virtual walk-in clinic in 2020, compared to Ont. residents who had a virtual appointment with a family physician. The findings show that:

• By Nov. 2020, the number of physicians providing virtual care at walk-in clinics was 2.5 times higher than in Feb. 2020. These physicians were more likely to be younger and practice in urban areas;
• Patients who used virtual walk-in clinics were more likely to be young adults, female. They had fewer illnesses and lower levels of previous healthcare use and fewer of them were enrolled to a family physician than Ontarians who had a virtual visit with a family physician; and
• Virtual walk-in patients were less likely to have a follow-up in-person visit with the same physician, more likely to have another virtual visit and twice as likely to visit the ED within 30 days of the initial virtual appointment - an association that persisted after adjusting for characteristics such as age, sex, urban/rural status, previous healthcare use and neighborhood income levels.