The President-Elect of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association says a priority of government is to develop a plan to move forward with virtual care post-COVID.

A lot of physicians started using virtual care through the pandemic and many are choosing to stick with phone appointments for some of the more routine aspects of patient care.

Dr. Gerard Farrell, who is the director of e-health research at Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine, says research has been carried out on the effectiveness of virtual care during the pandemic that should help inform policy moving forward.

“We’re really on the floor of virtual care,” says Farrell, “and I’m hoping that the evidence is going to start to come out with respect to best practices.”

He says a virtual care fee code was set up by government during the pandemic and it will need to be addressed going forward.

“How, government, are you going to reflect how much you value virtual care?” asks Farrell.