Dear Doctor,

What’s new?

• On Monday, March 16, Premier McNeil announced five presumptive cases of COVID-19.  There are additional measures under the authority of the Health Protection Act, which include:
  • Anyone who has travelled outside of Canada must self-isolate for 14 days, even if they are symptom-free. This afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has closed the border to most non-citizens
  • Long-term care facilities in Nova Scotia are closed to visitors
  • Public schools and day care centres (beginning Tuesday, March 17) are closed until at least April 3
  • Organizations and businesses must practise social distancing of two metres (six feet) and keep gatherings below 150 people or less. This applies to restaurants, bars, movie theatres and other gathering spots
• The March 15, 2020 update from Dr. Nicole Boutilier, vice-president of medicine with the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) includes:
  • The need for family physicians to develop business continuity plans to ensure ongoing provision of patient care for those with urgent health concerns in their offices
  • All non-urgent ambulatory clinic visits and group sessions will be suspended in all NSHA facilities effective March 18, 2020
  • A scrub exchange program is available for the Halifax Infirmary Emergency Department
  • The NSHA is exploring purchasing and distributing personal protective equipment to family physician offices
  • Urgent credentialing requests should be sent to credentialing@nshealth.ca and include “urgent COVID-19 related” in the subject line
  • Pre-screening guidelines for patients presenting to physician offices provides directions for referral to coronavirus assessment centres
  • Instructions for FIT testing for those physicians who perform aerosol generating procedures

Insurance for lost time
Doctors Nova Scotia benefits with Canada Life (formerly Great-West Life) cover health and dental only. A notice previously posted by Canada Life about short-term disability is not applicable to members. To the 1,600 members who have private disability insurance through OMA, your coverage has at least a 30-day (and in most cases a 60-day) waiting period. If you have coverage through other plans, please consult your plan providers about things like waiting periods and eligibility for quarantine versus illness.

Travel
Nova Scotia Public Health issued a directive, effective noon on Friday, March 13, that any physician who has travelled outside of Canada must self-isolate for 14 days upon returning to the country. Physicians who returned before noon on Friday, March 13 should monitor their condition closely.

Virtual care/telephone codes
Doctors Nova Scotia is meeting with the Department of Health and Wellness (DHW) tomorrow afternoon. We hope to have more clarity at that time, and will update members as we have more information. We see the value in physicians being able to care for their patients remotely using virtual care tools, such as the telephone and other functionalities provided through electronic medical records (EMR).

We believe physicians should be able to use the telephone and virtual care tools to provide safe and effective health care to their patients by billing the office visit fee code on a temporary basis. While the province implements measures to restrict the spread of the virus, at-risk patients should not have to visit a clinic to get access to their doctor, regardless if their care is related to COVID-19 or not. Nova Scotia can adopt billing instructions from other provinces that are taking this step to ensure a continuous, safe and effective delivery of health-care services during the pandemic.

Join the COVID-19 webinar
Doctors Nova Scotia is hosting two information webinars on COVID-19 with Dr. Claudia Sarbu, medical officer of health, and her NSHA colleagues: one on Monday, March 16 (tonight) and one on Monday, March, 23. Dr. Sarbu will share the latest information and address your questions and concerns.

Register here for a webinar.

Cases in Canada
As of 9:00 a.m. (EST) on March 16, 2020, there were 324 confirmed cases in Canada. There have been five deaths in Canada – four in BC and one in Ontario. The virus continues to expand globally.