Changes in driving distance to specialist physicians in the era of virtual care: a population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Whether virtual health care has changed access to services for patients living far from a specialist physician is unknown. We aimed to determine whether driving distances between patients and their specialists had changed following increased availability of virtual care in Ontario, such that specialists saw patients from farther away.

Methods

We performed a population-based cohort study using linked health and administrative databases. We included all specialist physicians working in Ontario from Jan. 1, 2019, to Nov. 30, 2019 (pre-virtual care period) and from Jan. 1, 2022, to Nov. 30, 2022 (virtual care period), and their patients. Outcomes were measures of proximity between specialists and their patients including differences in 90th-percentile driving distance

SUBMITTER: Evans A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12479117 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature