About the standard
The Virtual Care standard was reissued by CPSA Council in 2022 and is under review to honour the request from Council to bring the standard back for review two years after initial publication to ensure it is up-to-date. Changes to the standard seek to remove barriers for patients in remote/rural settings and support continuity of care while using a virtual care platform. The amendments also highlight the impact that the location of a regulated member may have on liability protection.
What’s changed?
- Adjustments to requirements around virtual care to support best interests of patients in rural and remote locations and remove unnecessary barriers for regulated members providing virtual care;
- Clarifying language to reflect nuance and limitations around confirming patient identity and patient location as well as ensuring patients are provided with proper accommodations and relevant information;
- Amendments to clarify situations where a member may not be a custodian of patient records and therefore not required to submit a Privacy Impact Assessment; and
- Changes throughout overall standard to better reflect the responsibilities of regulated members when providing virtual care and the importance of supporting continuity of care.
View the draft standard
For your convenience, the draft standard has clean and marked copies available.
All ResourcesYour opinion matters
Changes to CPSA’s Standards of Practice impact a physician and physician assistant’s day-to-day practice and the standard of care patients can expect. Your feedback is important to us, as it helps us develop clear, reasonable expectations and helpful, applicable resources. We appreciate the time you take and the input you provide.
CPSA regulated members, partner organizations, other healthcare professionals and Albertans are invited to provide feedback from November 20 to December 20, 2024. Feedback may be provided via survey, email or the comment form on each page.
Anonymized feedback will be considered by Council at their spring meeting. Once amendments are finalized and approved by Council, members will be notified by email and The Messenger newsletter.
We respect your privacy
All feedback is subject to CPSA’s Privacy Statement. CPSA reviews all comments before publication to ensure there is no offensive language, personal attacks or unsubstantiated allegations.
We want to hear from you!
Please share your feedback to assist us in ensuring this standard is relevant to current practice.
Read the draft amendments and share your feedback in any of the following ways: