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Background: Virtual care quickly became of crucial importance to health systems around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the potential of virtual care to enhance access for some communities, the scale and pace at which services were virtualized did not leave many organizations with sufficient time and resources to ensure optimal and equitable delivery of care for everyone. The objective of this paper is to outline the experiences of health care organizations rapidly implementing virtual care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and examine whether and how health equity was considered. Methods: We used an exploratory, multiple case study approach involving four health and social service organizations providing virtual care services to structurally marginalized communities in the province of Ontario, Canada. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with providers, managers, and patients to understand the challenges experienced by organizations and the strategies put in place to support health equity during the rapid virtualization of care. Thirty-eight interviews were thematically analyzed using rapid analytic techniques. Results: Organizations experienced challenges related to infrastructure availability, digital health literacy, culturally appropriate approaches, capacity for health equity, and virtual care suitability. Strategies to support health equity included the provision of blended models of care, creation of volunteer and staff support teams, participation in community engagement and outreach, and securement of infrastructure for clients. We put our findings into the context of an existing framework conceptualizing access to health care and expand on what this means for equitable access to virtual care for structurally marginalized communities. Conclusion: This paper highlights the need to pay greater attention to the role of health equity in virtual care delivery and situate that conversation around existing inequitable structures in the health care system that are perpetuated when delivering care virtually. An equitable and sustainable approach to virtual care delivery will require applying an intersectionality lens on the strategies and solutions needed to address existing inequities in the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family physicians and other members of the primary health care (PHC) team may be ideally positioned to provide transition care to adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 12-25 years) exiting pediatric specialty services. Potential solutions to well-known challenges associated with integrating PHC and specialty care need to be explored.Objective: To identify strategies to transition care by PHC professionals for AYAs with chronic conditions transitioning from pediatric to adult-oriented care.Methods: Participants were recruited from six Primary Care Networks in Calgary, Alberta. A total of 18 semi-structured individual interviews were completed, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using a qualitative description approach, involving thematic analysis.Results: Participants offered a range of strategies for supporting AYAs with chronic conditions. Our analysis resulted in three overarching themes: (i) educating AYAs, families, and providers about the critical role of primary care; (ii) adapting existing primary care supports for AYAs and (iii) designing new tools or primary care practices for transition care.Conclusions: Ongoing and continuous primary care is important for AYAs involved with specialty pediatric services. Participants highlighted a need to educate AYAs, families and providers about the critical role of PHC. Solutions to improve collaboration between PHC and pediatric specialist providers would benefit from additional perspectives from providers, AYAs and families. These findings will inform the development of a primary care-based intervention to improve transitional care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Access to family planning health services in Canada has been historically inadequate and inequitable. A potential solution appeared when Health Canada approved mifepristone, the gold standard for medical abortion, in July 2015. We sought to investigate the factors that influence successful initiation and ongoing provision of medical abortion services among Canadian health professionals and how these factors relate to abortion policies, systems, and service access throughout Canada.Methods: We conducted 1-on-1 semistructured interviews with a national sample of abortion-providing and nonproviding physicians and health system stakeholders in Canadian health care settings. Our data collection, thematic analysis, and interpretation were guided by Diffusion of Innovation theory.Results: We conducted interviews with 90 participants including rural practitioners and those with no previous abortion experience. In the course of our study, Health Canada removed mifepristone restrictions. Our results suggest that Health Canada's initial restrictions discouraged physicians from providing mifepristone and were inconsistent with provincial licensing standards, thereby limiting patient access. Once deregulated, remaining factors were primarily related to local and regional implementation processes. Participants held strong perceptions that mifepristone was the new standard of care for medical abortion in Canada and within the scope of primary care practice.Conclusion: Health Canada's removal of mifepristone restrictions facilitated the implementation of abortion care in the primary care setting. Our results are unique because Canada is the first country to facilitate provision of medical abortion in primary care via evidence-based deregulation of mifepristone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As part of a broader study to improve the capacity for advance care planning (ACP) in primary healthcare settings, the research team set out to develop and validate a computerized algorithm to help primary care physicians identify individuals at risk of death, and also carried out focus groups and interviews with relevant stakeholder groups. Interviews with patients and family caregivers were carried out in parallel to algorithm development and validation to examine (1) views on early identification of individuals at risk of deteriorating health or dying; (2) views on the use of a computerized algorithm for early identification; and (3) preferences and challenges for ACP. Methods: Fourteen participants were recruited from two Canadian provinces. Participants included individuals aged 65 and older with declining health and self-identified caregivers of individuals aged 65 and older with declining health. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via telephone. A qualitative descriptive analytic approach was employed, which focused on summarizing and describing the informational contents of the data. Results: Participants supported the early identification of patients at risk of deteriorating health or dying. Early identification was viewed as conducive to planning not only for death, but for the remainder of life. Participants were also supportive of the use of a computerized algorithm to assist with early identification, although limitations were recognized. While participants felt that having family physicians assume responsibility for early identification and ACP was appropriate, questions arose around feasibility, including whether family physicians have sufficient time for ACP. Preferences related to the content of and approach to ACP discussions were highly individualized. Required supports during ACP include informational and emotional supports. Conclusions: This work supports the role of primary care providers in the early identification of individuals at risk of deteriorating health or death and the process of ACP. To improve ACP capacity in primary healthcare settings, compensation systems for primary care providers should be adjusted to ensure appropriate compensation and to accommodate longer ACP appointments. Additional resources and more established links to community organizations and services will also be required to facilitate referrals to relevant community services as part of the ACP process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Excessive wait times for specialist care can have a substantial negative impact on health outcomes. The Champlain BASETM (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service based in Ottawa, Canada has demonstrated the ability to improve patients' access to specialist care.Objective: We interviewed patients who were treated using eConsult in order to explore their attitudes towards the service and their experiences of receiving care via the service.Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of patient interviews using a constant comparative approach. Patients whose primary care providers used the eConsult service in their care were contacted by telephone between June 2015 and January 2016 and completed 15-min semi-structured interviews.Results: Of 43 contacted participants, 30 completed interviews (70%). Over half of all respondents (n = 16) reported receiving a follow-up call or appointment within 1 week, and 26 stated that eConsult was useful in their case. Participants unanimously agreed that eConsult was an acceptable way to access specialist care, and 29 stated that they would ask their primary care provider to use eConsult on their behalf in the future. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis of patient comments: access, acceptability of eConsult and strengthened role of the primary care provider.Conclusions: Patients expressed acceptance for eConsult as a model for improving access to specialist care, had largely positive experiences with it as a model of care delivery, and supported its use in their future care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]