Mélanie Bourassa Forcier, Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Sherbrooke, Deputy Commissioner of Ethics and Regulations for the Commissioner of Health and Welfare, Main Researcher of the theme Innovation and Digital Transformation at CIRANO, and Maude Laberge, Assistant Professor in the Department of Operations and Decision Systems at the Université Laval, CIRANO Researcher, presented the results of the CIRANO report "Encadrement normatif et contractuel des pratiques de téléconsultation en clinique de première ligne".
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, teleconsultation services offered by general practitioners in Quebec were severely limited mainly because they were not remunerated as they were not recognized as insurable medical acts. The decree of March 16, 2020, adopted in the context of a health emergency, now allows this remuneration in the same way as the remuneration associated with the patient's visit to the clinic. Numerous benefits are recognized and associated with front-line teleconsultation if this teleconsultation is well supervised. The purpose of this project is to examine good practices in the supervision of teleconsultation and to propose recommendations before the next remuneration agreement with general practitioners is negotiated. In particular, we recommend mandatory training, legislative clarification regarding the right of private insurers to reimburse teleconsultation and various remuneration terms depending on the type of teleconsultation. Finally, we feel it is imperative to quickly commission a detailed study on the benefits and costs of teleconsultation in Quebec.
