V irtual care, commonly defined as medical care delivered at a distance by means of technology, has existed since the 1970s. 1 Despite substantial interest and investment in virtual care by both the federal and provincial governments, 2-4 widespread adoption was modest. 5,6 Research suggested that barriers to virtual care uptake in Ontario before the pandemic included limited physician reimbursement and government mandates that virtual visits use an approved video platform. 7 As the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic evolved, payers around the globe acted with unprecedented speed by altering fee schedules to encourage virtual visits to reduce the risk of viral transmission, protect patients with chronic diseases who need ongoing medical attention and conserve personal protective equipment. 8 In Ontario, during the first wave of the pandemic, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan quickly approved new temporary billing codes that allowed any type of technology, including telephone calls and commercial videoconferencing software (e.g., Skype, Zoom), to be used for virtual care. These temporary billing codes, as well as the preexisting video visit codes, are reimbursed at the same amount as in-person visits. It has been widely reported that virtual care adoption has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, but published data are limited. Previous studies have largely been limited to nongeneralizable patient subgroups. 9,10 There has also been widespread concern that virtual care may worsen disparities because vulnerable populations (e.g., older adults, lower-income
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