Evaluating the impact of a virtual outpatient care programme in preventing hospitalizations, emergency department visits and mortality for patients with COVID-19: a matched cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of virtual care in preventing unnecessary healthcare visits for patients with SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective matched cohort study, evaluating the COVID-19 Expansion to Outpatients (COVIDEO) programme involving virtual assessments for all positive patients in the Sunnybrook assessment centre from January 2020 to June 2021, followed by risk-stratified routine follow-up, couriering of oxygen saturation devices, and 24 hour/day direct-to-physician pager for urgent questions. We linked COVIDEO data to province-wide datasets, matching each eligible COVIDEO patient to ≤10 other Ontario SARS-CoV-2 patients on age, sex, neighbourhood, and date.

Ontario COVID-19 assessment centre practices in patient counselling, education, and follow-up care: A provincial survey.

Background: In March 2020, COVID-19 assessment centres were launched across the province of Ontario to facilitate COVID-19 testing outside of emergency departments. We aimed to study the degree to which assessment centres provide education and follow-up care for patients with suspected COVID-19.

Methods: We conducted an online survey of Ontario COVID-19 assessment centre directors between September 15 and October 15, 2020.