Brochure - Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences – Virtual Care and Pharmaceuticals

This survey is designed to better understand how Canadians navigate the health care system, including challenges or barriers they may face. Topics covered include the access to and use of pharmaceuticals, virtual care, barriers to care, prescription medications and out-of-pocket expenses.

You will be asked questions such as:

  • Do you have a regular health care provider?
  • In the past 12 months, have you accessed any virtual health care services?
  • In the past 12 months, did you have any prescriptions for medications?
  • Have you faced any challenges?

The results may be used by Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and provincial ministries of health to help inform the delivery of health care services, and to develop and improve programs and policies to better serve all Canadians.

Responses from Canadians by province
  Canadians who accessed electronic health informationSource 1 Canadians who had a virtual health care appointmentSource 1 Canadians who had insurance that covered all or part of the cost of their prescription medicationsSource 2
British Columbia 59% 55% 76%
Alberta 56% 25% 84%
Saskatchewan 55% 28% 80%
Manitoba 42% 33% 75%
Ontario 54% 36% 79%
Quebec 41% 21% 89%
New Brunswick 37% 41% 84%
Nova Scotia 41% 41% 83%
Prince Edward Island 39% 22% 74%
Newfoundland and Labrador 36% 54% 82%

Sources:

Source 1

Statistics Canada, Canadian Social Survey (CSS) - Quality of Life, Virtual Health Care and Trust, July to September 2023

Return to the first source 1 referrer

Source 2

Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), January to December 2019

Return to source 2 referrer

Notes:

Estimates from the CSS - Quality of Life, Virtual Health Care and Trust include persons 15 years of age or older living in the 10 provinces of Canada and refer to the 12 months preceding the data collection period of the survey (any date between July 15, 2022 and September 7, 2023). They exclude institutionalized persons and persons living on reserves.

Estimates from the CCHS include persons 12 years of age or older living in the 10 provinces of Canada and refer to the 12 months preceding the data collection period of the survey (any date between January 3, 2018 and December 24, 2019). They exclude full-time members of the Canadian Forces, institutionalized persons, children 12 to 17 years of age living in foster care, persons living on reserves and other Aboriginal settlements in the provinces and persons living in the Quebec health regions of Nunavik and Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James.

Want to know more about the survey?

Visit our website for more information: www.statcan.gc.ca/shcae-vcp

For more information

Email: infostats@statcan.gc.ca
Telephone: 1-877-949-9492
TTY: 1-800-363-7629

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