Promising Practices for Partnering on Appropriate Virtual Care

Through a 12-month collaborative program HEC supported 39 teams across Canada to develop a functional framework for determining when and how virtual care could be used appropriately, safely and equitably in their unique care settings, fostering partnerships with patients, families and communities for effective healthcare delivery.

Virtual care is growing rapidly across the country, as more primary care providers use technology to deliver healthcare. Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) launched an initiative to help care providers and patients work together to ensure virtual care is provided in an appropriate, safe and equitable way.

Each promising practice features each of these elements:

• objective and purpose of the promising practice

• approach

• impacts and learnings

This summary profiles promising practices developed by nine participating teams that aim to improve healthcare access and outcomes, reduce avoidable emergency department (ED) visits, foster patient-provider partnerships and ensure virtual care access for diverse populations. These innovative frameworks highlight:

• equity and inclusive access

• safety in virtual care

• integrated people centered care.