Evaluation of Virtual Care for Rapid Access Clinic - Low Back Pain: Patient and Healthcare Provider Perspectives Across Ontario

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the most common cause of chronic pain and disability around the world. Access to evidence-based LBP care from providers that work together and put the patient at the center of care has been a longstanding global challenge that has only been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rapid Access Clinics - Low Back Pain (RAC-LBP) program in Ontario is designed to assess, individualize and coordinate care for patients with persisting LBP. The RAC-LBP supports over 6400 primary care providers across the province, receives approximately 1500 referrals per month and has seen over 30K patients since 2018. As a result of the pandemic the program had to shift to virtual (video based) care for most patients. Although the program has now returned to more in-person care, many patients have reported a preference for virtual care. We aim to study the impact of combining in-person and virtual care on the preferences and experience of both patients and providers in the provincial RAC-LBP. Methods: We propose collection of data regarding the likes and dislikes of in-person and virtual care from patient and frontline providers focused on the care of LBP. Data will be obtained by surveys and by one-on-one interviews. After final review of our results by patients, providers, researchers, managers and payers of healthcare, the key perspectives of patients and providers regarding a balanced use of both in-person and virtual care will be presented. Impact: Identifying the best use of both in-person and virtual care to meet the individual preferences and needs of patients will improve the experience of both patients and providers. Finding the right balance of in-person and virtual care for LBP will help the healthcare system be more efficient. In addition, the lessons learned from this study may help in guiding the balanced use of virtual care in other chronic conditions such as diabetes or arthritis.