Manitoba’s Virtual-Care Direction Takes Effect for Pharmacists

Manitoba pharmacists providing virtual care are now subject to the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba’s (CPhM) Virtual Care Practice Direction. It took effect October 23, 2026, alongside amendments to the Prescribing Practice Direction that remove the former face-to-face assessment requirement for prescribing when a virtual assessment is appropriate and compliant. The change applies to all Manitoba pharmacists providing virtual care; it is not a blanket direction to move prescribing online. CPhM’s October 23 notice says the new direction establishes minimum requirements for safe virtual pharmacy care.

Access with safeguards

The College’s accompanying FAQ confirms that virtual care can include telephone and asynchronous communication, provided the Practice Direction and Manitoba’s Personal Health Information Act requirements are met. CPhM also says the practice direction does not approve one particular technology; the tool must be suitable for the care and meet safety and security requirements. This gives pharmacists room to use different channels while keeping the clinical and privacy obligations in place.

Appropriateness remains a patient-specific decision. The FAQ lists factors that may matter, including a need for physical assessment, the patient’s mobility or accessibility needs, travel distance, language and communication needs, financial hardship and technology barriers. Virtual care should be selected because it can safely meet the patient’s needs—not simply because the channel is available.

Limits and operational details

The FAQ says technology used for virtual care must store personal health information in Canada and have reasonable safeguards for confidentiality and data integrity. A session must not be recorded without the patient’s or agent’s explicit consent. Pharmacists and pharmacy managers should understand a tool’s capabilities and maintain pharmacy-specific policies; relying on a vendor manual alone does not address local workflows.

Some boundaries are explicit. Dispensing—including approving or preparing a prescription—must take place in a licensed pharmacy and cannot be completed virtually in Manitoba. Virtual observation of opioid agonist therapy is not permitted under this direction. CPhM is also developing separate guidance for care across provincial and territorial borders, so the new Manitoba direction should not be read as permission to provide cross-jurisdictional care.

Practice guidance for pharmacists

• Read the final Virtual Care and amended Prescribing Practice Directions rather than relying on older face-to-face rules or consultation drafts.
• Assess the individual patient, the care requested and whether a physical examination is needed before choosing phone, video, asynchronous or in-person care.
• Confirm that any technology used meets the direction’s security and Canadian data-storage requirements, and that the pharmacy has a written, workflow-specific policy for it.
• Explain the virtual-care process and its limits, obtain and document consent as required, and ensure patients know what to do if service is interrupted or an emergency arises.
• Keep dispensing work in the licensed pharmacy and do not use virtual observation for opioid agonist therapy under this direction.
• Check jurisdictional rules before providing care to a patient located outside Manitoba; CPhM identifies cross-jurisdictional care as a separate direction still in development.

What changed for practice

The removal of a universal in-person assessment requirement expands the ways a pharmacist may conduct a prescribing assessment; it does not remove professional judgment or the duty to use a suitable modality. Clinics and community pharmacies should review booking, documentation, privacy and escalation procedures together so that access gains do not create new gaps in continuity or patient safety.