New Brunswick will have a new system to receive virtual health care in a few short weeks, but some have been raising questions about the transition.
So far, 27 nurse practitioners have been hired to staff Virtual Care NB, the new platform replacing eVisitNB.
A group of nurse practitioners wrote a letter to New Brunswick’s health minister, John Dornan, to raise concerns about the rate of pay, as well as conditions that may impede their ability to respond to larger volumes of patients.
Dornan addressed some of the concerns with reporters on Thursday, saying he didn’t respond to the letter as it was unsigned.
“They did provide some legitimate concerns and we took those to the Foundever company. We communicate with them very well. I think we’ve addressed most of the concerns that they raised,” he said.
“The vendor is responsible for … paying their employees. That’s not my business.”
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One of the primary concerns was the introduction of a 20-minute limit on patient consultations, as well as the appointment-based nature of Virtual Care NB compared to eVisit’s “virtual waiting room.”
The provider, Foundever Assistance Services Corp., told Global News in a statement that the 20-minute appointment is a “deliberate design choice, not a constraint.”
“It protects time for patients to be heard and gives nurse practitioners the flexibility to manage documentation, variability, and the realities of virtual care — without compressing clinical work into the margins of their day,” the statement says.
While the association representing nurse practitioners in the province was not part of the group of nurses who sent the letter, their president says they have concerns, too.
“They didn’t have clarification as to the appointment times, they didn’t have clarification as to follow-up, they didn’t have follow-up as to who was following the labs and the diagnostic test results,” said Sharon Hamilton, president of Nurse Practitioners of New Brunswick.
“There are clinical aspects of the job that needed communication. They certainly have received clarification now from the new company and I think we’ll be able to move forward with a lot more comfort once we have the contract reexamined.”
Hamilton said her organization was in support of the 20-minute timeframe and that they’re in talks with the government as well as Foundever to discuss ongoing concerns.
The health minister says he’s not aware of any plans to transfer patient files from eVisitNB to the Virtual Care NB platform.
The new platform will be available to anyone with a New Brunswick Medicare card from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
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