Are Online Doctors the New Norm?

Most of us have a lot going on even in the best of times. After a full day of looking after the kids, slogging through work, and updating the execs on the progress that's been made on the deliverables, the last thing that anyone wants to do is get into the car and brave the cold winters that Canada is known for when you're dealing with a relatively minor ailment.

Being able to book and attend an online walk-in meeting, means that you can skip all of the time-sucking parts of seeing a doctor and jump straight into finding solutions. As long as you have a working internet connection, you don't have to step a foot outside in order to get a prescription for that nagging cough or that untreated sore.

When you're feeling under the weather but not sick enough for the ER, it often feels like you're stuck with two choices:

You can sit and wait in a room full of strangers you don't know with varying degrees of infectiousness.

Or, you can try to power through your illness until you're sick enough to be the person that other folks in the waiting room are wondering about.

And even when you set aside the very real "Should I risk this?" calculation that goes into the waiting room, there's also the simple fact that the waiting room game can be a serious schedule disruptor. Even if your plans are basically a mental checklist that looks like cooking, doing chores, and getting tasks done so that your weekend is relatively free, that waiting room trip could very well throw off your whole week.

On their own, these are both convincing reasons to say "Hm. I'll have to look into this." when it comes to exploring the idea of going to a virtual clinic. But taken together, it's a powerful one-two punch for many Canadians who want to speak to a doctor in a more convenient way.

If after thinking this over, virtual doctor's visits are an option that you could see yourself using on a regular basis, membership fees are a surprisingly solid way to cover your monthly costs.

For instance, Maple has two plans. First, there's a personal membership that charges $30/month for up to 30 annual visits. And then second, Maple also offers family plans that allow for 50 annual visits for the family.

There are no time limits on your virtual visit so you don't have to worry about being rushed out the door while you're still explaining your medical issue. And you can also get the benefit of keeping all of your medical records in one place.

In addition, if you can see yourself wanting to speak to a specialist here and there, you can also purchase credit packages upfront to make ongoing specialist costs a little bit less expensive when the time comes. Available in $100, $200, and $500-credit bundles, the more minutes you buy, the more savings you can get.

However, if you're like most Canadians who are used to accessing the walk-in clinic for free as long as you have a provincial health card, you may be feeling a little weird about having to pay to speak to a doctor at all. And if you're on a tight budget, dipping into your savings to see an online doctor in Canada might not be realistic.

Picture this.

You've got a weird mole or a medical condition that needs to be monitored. But instead of having to get your x-rays, testing, and imaging done only to come back in again to discuss your results with your doctor, your information gets forwarded to the doctor who then connects with you over the phone.

For obvious reasons, it's not unusual to see certain specialties, like dermatologists or radiologists, use this approach. And simply because lighting and camera quality can all interfere with the appearance of a physical skin condition, for example, it can be harder to pin down an initial diagnosis while using this approach.

However, for people who are trying to sort out their health and exploring possibilities, there's no beating the convenience of being able to store and document issues that your online doctor can then go through and figure out.

Do you know how in movies you can often see the needle bouncing while someone's vitals are being monitored in the hospital? With self-testing, you can use different devices to keep track of your general health and clinical wellbeing without having to visit the doctor in person.

When the pandemic was at its height, Health Canada gave some people the option of using self-testing tech to keep track of their infections. If you've got a chronic condition, this telemedicine service allows you to keep track of your clinical signs while also giving your physician more information about what your body is doing.

This is the type of telemedicine service that you receive when you book an appointment through Maple or a similar service. These can be done online or over the phone and like the name says, these are appointments where you're speaking with your healthcare provider directly and having discussions that feel similar to a standard walk-in appointment at a clinic but just without the traditional face-to-face interaction.

While that sums up the broader services that fall under the telemedicine umbrella, there's another distinction that's important for you to know as a patient: Telemedicine, or telehealth, refers to the general process of treating and diagnosing medical conditions remotely while virtual visits are the actual appointments that are set with your healthcare provider.

This platform is free for Albertans, Ontarians, and British Columbians with appointments in other provinces starting at $30. Virtual Clinics patients can not only potentially see their family doctors through the service, but they can also receive free prescription and renewal delivery throughout Canada.

Visit virtualclinics.ca to find out more. 

This clinic provides an extensive list of services through its virtual care branch for patients over the age of four. Alongside prescription renewals, weight loss management plans, and over 30 different specialists, Appletree also lets patients choose between virtual care and telemedicine.

You can visit appletreemedicalgroup.com to find out more.