Quebec’s auditor general is concerned that a boom in telemedicine since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago will have a negative impact on the quality of care offered to the population.
In her 2021-2022 annual report made public Wednesday, Guylaine Leclerc says the Health Department has not provided a framework for when consultations can be carried out remotely and when a physical examination is required.
Her report states health-care providers and the Health Department weren’t ready for the surge in telemedicine that came with the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
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Since then, the department, headed by Health Minister Christian Dubé, has still not assessed the extent to which virtual care has contributed to improving the quality of care provided to patients.
As a result, she concluded, the practice of telemedicine could affect the quality of care provided.
The province’s emergency decree, adopted in March 2020, permitted doctors to be paid for remote care, which wasn’t the case before.
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