ORA Pandemic Issues Letter to FSRA

ORA Pandemic Issues Letter to FSRA PDF

Sent via email
RE: FSRA’S GUIDANCE AND PROMPT RESPONSE SOUGHT RE PANDEMIC RELATED ISSUES

March 26, 2020
Dear Ann and Stuart,
The ORA is very gratified by the deferral of the AIR filing. Thank you for any contributions you may have made to that announcement.
Along with all healthcare providers we’ve been asked to do our part and help mitigate the impact of this pandemic on our most vulnerable populations and on our acute care sector. We are ready and anxious to do so. Help us do our part.
The ORA has been holding weekly consultations with our members to hear what their experiences and questions are during this pandemic. Below I’ve outlined the issues and requests for FSRA’s guidance and assistance that have emerged thus far. We appreciate that some may be out of scope for FSRA and would, in these cases, be grateful for suggestions or introductions as to where to redirect.

Suspension of Non-Essential Regulated Health Provider (RHP) Services by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health in the on March 19, 2020.
Early communications from some RHP members’ Colleges indicate that this directive is being interpreted to relate to in-person services though the wording of the directive is not clear. Though health care facilities and home care services have subsequently been deemed essential in Ontario we are concerned that insurers may be confused and are consequently denying approvals for services that may be safely delivered virtually and/or in-person in cases where that may be deemed essential.
A further concern is that while some services may not be considered essential in the early days of this pandemic its highly likely they may become essential in coming weeks

To read the whole letter please see link to PDF above