Overview

• A CMAJ population-based study of Ontario care published in September 2025 found no substantial increase in how far specialists served patients after virtual care scaled during the pandemic.
• Analysis compared pre-virtual 2019 with 2022, covering more than 11,000 specialists, over 5.3 million patients, and more than 25 million visits.
• Driving distance and time between patients and specialists stayed largely unchanged, with psychiatry showing only modest gains across measures.
• Ontario's virtual care expansion included new billing codes, technological infrastructure, and remuneration changes intended to enable remote visits.
• Authors recommend centralized referral systems to connect patients with available specialists and urge greater use of patient preferences to guide visit type.