Canadians with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who receive care from gastroenterologists have better outcomes, including lower risk of surgery or unplanned hospitalizations. However, individuals living in rural or remote areas are often underserviced and experience greater challenges in receiving timely access to care by a gastroenterologist, including having to travel greater distances to attend their appointments.

 

Virtual care involves connecting a patient with their gastroenterologist, allowing for timely visits through phone calls or a secure online video platform. There is evidence to show that virtual care helps to reduce the gap in access to timely IBD care and improve health outcomes for those who live in remote and underserved communities across Canada, including a better sense of control over IBD symptoms, adherence, self-efficacy and knowledge about IBD.   

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To find out where virtual care is needed most, CaNVAS-IBD carried out a national needs assessment. We mapped gastroenterologist availability against the IBD population in 96 health regions across seven provinces and found that nearly one in three regions had no gastroenterologist practising locally, with specialist availability more than four times higher in urban than in rural and remote areas. We also spoke with 47 Canadians living with IBD in focus groups across the country, along with more than 50 gastroenterologists, nurses, surgeons and health system leaders, to understand what patients need and how a national virtual care program should work in practice.