Advocating for Telemedicine

On November 22, 2023 I did a Member's Statement advocating for telemedicine, and the improvement and expansion of services like Maple. I also introduced Motion 79 - Expanding access to diagnostic health services through virtual technology (PDF). Additionally, my colleague from District 1 Souris-Elmira (Robin Croucher) asked questions regarding the Maple service. See details below.

Telemedicine and Barriers to Accessing Maple - Member's Statement

Hansard-22 November 2023(PDF) Starts on page 10 of 60 (page 2197 in Hansard) Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald. Barriers to Accessing Maple B. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Starting with my nomination speech in the 2011 provincial election, I have been an advocate for telemedicine and using technology to allow remote primary care. When the previous administration finally brought forward the Maple service, this was a huge step forward. While canvassing during this year’s spring election, I received great feedback from users of Maple, especially young Island families – with or without a family doctor – that found it efficient and convenient as a primary care stepping stone. In particular, the ability for Maple to refer patients to in-person physician appointments when needed was working well. However, it seems that as the desire to use the Maple service has expanded, the ability to access it has declined. I had a constituent contact me recently who tried to access Maple unsuccessfully for four days in a row, being told each time, “Maple has cancelled your consultation due to high volume.” She eventually went to the emergency department and waited for seven hours to see a doctor and get the prescription she needed. Also, people with family doctors must still pay for access to Maple, even though our government promised that it would pay for access for all. Reportedly, the problems with Maple are due to the inability to call on doctors from other provinces, budget, and red tape. All very solvable, and I have faith that they will be solved soon under this minister’s leadership. I still firmly believe that telemedicine will play a huge role in the future provision of both primary and specialist care, and I have introduced a motion to the Legislative Assembly to that effect. Audio and video consultation through services like Maple is just scratching the surface; connected devices exist that allow for more fulsome examinations, and Islanders should have access to them as soon as possible to help solve our primary medical care crisis. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Motion 79 - Expanding access to diagnostic health services through virtual technology

I moved the following MOTION No. 79 - Expanding access to diagnostic health services through virtual technology, on November 21, 2023.

Brad Trivers, gives notice that he will move, seconded by Hilton MacLennan, the following motion: WHEREAS advances in technology are revolutionizing how healthcare is delivered; AND WHEREAS various fields of medicine such as primary and specialty care are constantly applying new technology to enhance the work that they do; AND WHEREAS the adoption of virtual care tools by both patients and clinicians is growing more day by day; AND WHEREAS as comfort rises with these technologies their adoption and use will increase; AND WHEREAS public and private sector infrastructure investment is continuously improving access and connectivity for more and more citizens; AND WHEREAS the potential exists to further progress in adoption of virtual technology tools to improve timely access to care, particularly in rural or remote areas; AND WHEREAS this could hold great promise in the areas of early detection and diagnosis, important elements of quality care for citizens; AND WHEREAS improvements in access, efficiency and preventative care benefit the health system as a whole; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly encourage the government to explore the establishment of a pilot project to increase use of connected devices to support remote examination and diagnosis in primary and specialty care. Signed by: Brad Trivers Signed by: Hilton MacLennan Date: November 21, 2023

This motion has not yet been called, but will stay on the order paper and may be debated in the Spring 2024 sitting. Of note, in September 2023 CADTH (Canada's Drug and Health Technology Agency) published the document "Connected Devices to Support Remote Examination and Diagnosis in Primary Care and Specialty Care" exploring this topic. You can view it online, or view the PDF version: Online - https://www.cadth.ca/connected-devices-support-remote-examination-and-diagnosis-primary-care-and-specialty-care https://bradtrivers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/eh0088-connected-devices-to-support-remote-exam-and-diagnosis-in-pc-and-sc.pdf In particular, the "Tyto Care Pro Smart Clinic" suite of products are referred to:

"The Pro Smart Clinic gives your patients access to high-quality healthcare wherever they are – be it at school, at the workplace, in rural areas, underserved areas, or in senior care facilities. Clinicians can be wherever they are most needed at any time, enabling optimal staff utilization. TytoCare connects patients to clinicians by replicating the clinic experience with medical grade remote physical exams, for remote diagnoses across urgent, primary, and specialty care. Our solutions integrate into existing platforms and EMRs for faster implementation."

Questions - Access to Maple - by Souris-Elmira (Robin Croucher)

Hansard-22 November 2023(PDF) Starts on page 21 of 60 (page 2208 in Hansard) Speaker: The hon. Member from Souris-Elmira. R. Croucher: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have numerous constituents that have been on the family doctor wait list for years, which means they must use Maple, clinics, or emergency care for their health needs. One of those constituents has been trying to access Maple for over a month now and each time they do their request for service, the appointment gets cancelled after sometimes more than three hours due to volume. This doesn’t seem to be a unique problem, as my hon. colleague here from Rustico-Emerald spoke about earlier in his member statement. Access to Maple health app My question is to the Minister of Health and Wellness: How widespread an issue is accessing Maple for Islanders? Speaker: The hon. Minister of Health and Wellness. Hon. M. McLane: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you, member, for the question. There’s no doubt the utilization of Maple has almost doubled over the past year with about 2,000 visits per month. We do recognize the timeout issue, especially on Mondays and Fridays; I think seem to be the worst two days of trying to access the system. I would remind everyone that it is actually eight to eight on Wednesdays on Thursdays. My family has had some good experience on getting through after supper on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I’ll probably create another bubble by even mentioning that, but again, it does have its surges in the system. It’s not a replacement to primary care. I want to emphasize that. It is just one of the doors into our health care system. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Speaker: The hon. Member from SourisElmira, your first supplementary. R. Croucher: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you to the Minister of Health and Wellness for that information. The backlog on Maple is from Islanders who do not have a family doctor and those who do have a family doctor but cannot get appointments to see them. I am hearing these concerns from people right across the province. These wait times are unacceptable Minister of Health and Wellness, my question is: What is government going to do to alleviate these backlogs? Speaker: The hon. Minister of Health and Wellness. Hon. M. McLane: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you for the question. It’s a good conversation to have about Maple. It’s also important to note that there is a referral path through Maple to our primary access clinics in order for service. The hon. member did mention prescription renewal in his statement today. I think we still struggle to let the people know – even though Pharmacy Plus is quite well known, I still get the odd email about prescription renewal. So, I’d encourage people to check with their pharmacist before they do. We understand that the capacity of the system is definitely increasing, and we need to keep working on it. Some of our regulatory pathways will maybe expand our employment pool to provide that service in the future. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Speaker: The hon. Member from Souris-Elmira, your second supplementary. R. Croucher: Thank you, Madam Speaker. There are more and more platforms like Maple being used by Islanders to access some level of health care. The problem is that when people start doing it in larger numbers, the result is that it bogs down the system and just ends up becoming somewhat of a digital waiting room. If we want more Islanders to use services like Maple, we have to make sure that they are working well when Islanders need them. If we don’t, then this problem will only get worse, which increases the pressure across our entire health care system, including our fire departments and emergency medical services. Question to the Minister of Health: At what point can Islanders using Maple expect to see some of these backlogs get cleared up? Speaker: The hon. Minister of Health and Wellness. Hon. M. McLane: Thank you for the question. We have actually onboarded another five additional physicians to help with the volumes of Maple. They still maintain their contractual obligations with Health PEI, so it’s extra work for them, so to speak. I think it’s important to recognize Atlantic Registry now that those physicians can now provide virtual care in four other provinces. Boy, we’d like to see that expand across the country because I think some places like northern Ontario or even the Northwest Territories with rural physicians with smaller practices maybe able to help on virtual care on Prince Edward Island. Thank you, Madam Speaker