Dear Editor,

As a social worker in the health care field I come across many people (patients) telling me they have to go to the ER to get prescription renewals. Fortunately, most people don’t always have to do this, but they don’t know that. I myself do not have a family doctor and rely exclusively on virtual doctor clinics to renew my prescriptions.

In our broken system, this is as close as I can get to having a primary care physician. For those who are needing prescription renewals, you can try accessing the following websites to speak with an OHIP-covered nurse or physician.

These doctors can renew your prescriptions or provide you with referrals, depending on your situation:

TulipHealth https://tuliphealth.ca/

telemedMD https://telemedmd.ca/

Telus Health https://www.telus.com/en/personal-health/my-care/doctors

MCI Connect https://www.mciconnect.ca

Cover Health https://cover.health/

Rocket Doctor https://rocketdoctor.ca/online-doctor-ontario/

However, this information may become outdated as clinics change their policies.

As of December 1, 2022 Doug Ford and the OMA created a new stipulation to further increase the problems in accessing healthcare in Ontario by requiring that physicians see their patient in person at least once in order to be paid the same for future virtual visits – by that I mean, their fees will be cut by up to 60 per cent if they haven’t seen the patient in person. Imagine having no GP, consulting a virtual doctor so you don’t have to go to the ER for a minor problem, and the doctor only being paid $15!

Would you want to continue a practice like that, of helping people with no family doctor while the government pulls the rug out from under you?

This is what the government is calling “a patient-first approach.” The problem with this is that many people like me don’t have a doctor so we don’t have the luxury of seeing a doctor at least once in person.

This has resulted in some online clinics closing shop, including being the cause of my former go-to www.virtualMD.com sending me an email dated Feb 2, 2023 stating “we have had to transition into a private non-OHIP clinic in order to continue to provide health care services to you. . There will be a $50 fee per appointment . . .”

A big thanks-no thanks to Doug Ford for his exceptional decision making at such a time as this. For more information, see the petition “Save Virtual Care in Ontario” on www.change.org by Dr. William Cherniak.

Folks can also connect with the Ontario Health Coalition at www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca

Sami Lester

West Lake