Dear Doctor,

First, I want to take this opportunity to thank you. I recognize that all of you are doing your part to help contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), whether it’s following the Public Health measures, adjusting your practice in response to the pandemic, volunteering to support your community, helping to spread the advice of our experts, or all of the above and more – thank you!

Yesterday Minister of Health and Wellness Randy Delorey announced a new fee, which enables all physicians – primary care and other specialities – to bill a virtual care visit for any visit that would normally be billed as a face-to-face visit.

We are pleased this step is in place. Many of you have already started providing non-face-to-face care in response to social distancing protocol and to help protect the health and safety of you and your most vulnerable patients. This code will compensate you for that at a rate consistent with the family physician ME=CARE value. The code will be available for the duration of the pandemic and it will support telephone and secure video conferencing.

These negotiations were challenging because sometimes the discussions with officials weren’t always reflected after the policy writers released the details. That’s why it’s always a complex dance.

This is good news. But we also recognize the code isn’t perfect. We’ve heard concerns related to:

• The fee code doesn’t accurately reflect the work done for some visits (i.e. geriatrics);
• Specialists are concerned about the comparability of the value of the fee code;
• The fee code doesn’t include opioid agonist therapy, psychotherapy, among others; and
• The fee code is not eligible for nursing home visits, long-term care facility visits or walk-in clinics.

I want to assure you that this is an ongoing discussion with government. We know it’s not perfect, but we did not want to hold up your ability to begin providing virtual care now to your patients.

Doctors Nova Scotia continues to work with the Department of Health and Wellness to improve the fee code, addressing the concerns above. Please share your feedback with Kevin Chapman to help inform that work.

Once again, thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work on your behalf to enable supports that help you do what you do best: caring for the people of Nova Scotia.

I hope you find our daily updates helpful. You can find the webinar recordings, FAQs and key resources at www.doctorsns.com/news-events/COVID-19-updates.

If you have an urgent question, please reach out to a medical officer of health (MOH). As you can appreciate, the Public Health office is responding to a high volume of questions and concerns. They are doing their very best to provide efficient responses. In some cases, a phone call directly to a MOH is the best approach.

As we work together to support our communities and each other, please take care of yourself.

Sincerely,

Gary Ernest, MD, CCFP, FCFP, MBA
President