“Smooth” transition promised, but patients say it’s been anything but
Woodstock business owner Melissa McLaughlin described her first experience getting a prescription through Virtual Care NB as a series of glitches, hours on hold, and five days of waiting. She called the process inefficient.
“They knew how many people used eVisit[NB] every day and were completely unprepared to make it happen efficiently,” McLaughlin wrote in a social media post.
“That is 3 separate phone calls to get a simple prescription refill for a medication I have been on for years,” she wrote on Facebook. “This is supposed to be a better option than a virtual waiting room? [Is it] cost, time and resource efficient to be paying 3 different people to do a prescription refill?”
Government responds to complaints
During a provincial media briefing on Wednesday, July 15, New Brunswick Health Minister Dr. John Dornan addressed the concerns of McLaughlin and others who have been complaining about Virtual Care NB.
The minister spoke of his government being blindsided by higher-than-anticipated prescription renewals and technical glitches with the new online medical platform.
Virtual Care NB, run by the international firm Foundever, took over from New Brunswick-born-and-based eVisitNB on June 30, despite a public and political outcry for the province to continue working with the local company. Foundever has had a longstanding relationship with the New Brunswick government, operating Tele-Care 811 for 20 years.
Despite the rocky start to the new service, Dornan reiterated throughout the news conference that the new company is offering patients “better” options.
This spring, Dr. Dornan promised New Brunswickers a “smooth” transition with improved services.
Dozens of social media posts, letters to the editor, and provincial news stories since the new service took over suggest the new platform is currently ill-prepared to serve the public at the same capacity as its predecessor, eVisitNB.
“I am confident the service will continue to stabilize as improvements are implemented,” he told reporters. “We know that prescription renewals are an area where improvements are needed.”
Dornan said the transition to the new service made the government realize “how many New Brunswickers relied on virtual care for prescription renewals in the past.”
He noted that Tele-Care 811 has not been working well for some patients.
“Online, prescription renewals will be added so they do not need to call 811. This will provide a clear, direct, digital access point for patients seeking prescription renewal.”
Dornan told reporters that, in light of the prescription renewal demands, the province has since created telephone and online options for patients when they contact Tele-Care 811, which is now the first point of contact for virtual care.
Number of prescriptions a “surprise” despite available data
Dr. Dornan said his government was surprised by the sheer volume of requests for prescription renewals, noting that prescription-specific data from eVisitNB wasn’t provided to the province.
eVisitNB said the minister’s statement is false. CEO Dr. Hanif Chatur said his corporation provided prescription statistics to the government on several occasions.
A Department of Health report obtained by the River Valley Sun analyzed monthly virtual-care data from eVisitNB. From July 29, 2023 to July 29, 2024, the provincial report said eVisitNB issued 160,905 new prescriptions, 6,157 prescription renewals, and 5,762 refills through its Maple platform.
DOWNLOAD GOVERNMENT REPORT HERE
Monthly reports from eVisitNB show that in July 2025, it wrote 21,395 prescriptions and added 2,502 new patients to its roster. In June 2026, prior to the transition, eVisitNB provided 19,781 consultations, with nurse practitioners writing 20,835 prescriptions.
DOWNLOAD EVISITNB JULY 2025 REPORT HERE
DOWNLOAD EVISITNB JUNE 2026 REPORT HERE
Dr. Chatur also confirmed that the Dept. of Health was sent updated eVisitNB prescription data last fall.
“In September 2025, we provided GNB with year-to-date data that [showed] 63% of patients presenting to eVisitNB were looking for a prescription renewal,” he wrote in an email.
SEE PRESCRIPTION DATA PROVIDED TO DEPT. OF HEALTH HERE
The River Valley Sun sent a request to the Department of Health, asking why the department was not prepared to process prescription requests despite having access to the data. The newspaper has also asked the department to provide the exact number of patients seen by Foundever healthcare staff since June 30.
ER/hospital overcapacity tied to virtual care issues?
Dornan said that in the first two weeks of July, Virtual Care NB helped between “15 and 90 patients per day.” The minister said Foundever has also increased capacity and now has 52 nurse practitioners under contract, up from the initial 27 it hired two weeks prior to the new service’s launch.
In contrast, during the first two weeks of July 2025, data provided by eVisitNB showed it served 8,316 patients – an average of 594 per day.
DOWNLOAD EVISITNB FIRST WEEK OF JULY 2025 REPORTS HERE
DOWNLOAD EVISITNB SECOND WEEK OF JULY 2025 REPORT HERE
“Given our average daily volume of 659 patients per day in July 2025, assuming no growth, they should have anticipated 415 requests per day,” Dr. Chatur told the River Valley Sun.
During the media briefing, reporters asked whether there was a correlation between issues with virtual care and longer ER wait times and overcapacity. Dornan would not name Virtual Care NB as the sole cause.
“There are lots of reasons why people are going to our emergency departments, and sometimes it’s because they can’t get a prescription renewal,” Dornan told journalists.
According to a Fredericton doctor who posted on social media, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital is over capacity by approximately 400 per cent. There are also issues with overcapacity in Saint John, Moncton and the Upper River Valley Hospital.
The health minister noted that whenever an emergency room is full, it’s “multifactorial.”
“Sometimes, it’s ’cause people can’t get up to the floor to get a bed because there’s no beds. Sometimes it’s because they have a minor ailment, but they don’t have a family doctor. We are working on all those fronts to try and reduce the strain on the emergency room.”
When asked whether choosing June 30 to start a new service, with more doctors and healthcare staff on vacation, contributed to overcapacity in hospitals, Dr. Dornan said there was no good time to start the new service, and doesn’t regret making the transition during peak vacation season.
“We need better primary care,” he said. “Sometimes New Brunswickers have nowhere else to go.”
Foundever finances/departures don’t worry Dornan
This spring, the River Valley Sun reported that Foundever’s credit rating had been downgraded by S&P Global, a U.S. credit rating agency, and is now listed as CCC, one level above bankruptcy.
https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/3496757
S&P defines a company with a CCC rating as “currently vulnerable to nonpayment and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitments on the obligation. In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, the obligor is not likely to have the capacity to meet its financial commitments on the obligation.”
In early July, ENCONTACT, an online magazine focused on customer relationship management and business processes, published an article about the last two founders of Foundever “jumping ship.”
“Olivier Camino and Laurent Uberti, respectively COO and CEO of Foundever (formerly Acticall), are leaving Foundever,” reads the online post. “Creadev takes the wheel, backed by new shareholders. Of the original trio who first met at SUP’ de CO Nice, none remain. In a LinkedIn post, Frédéric Jousset, a former Foundever competitor, commented on the departure, noting that the golden generation of outsourced call centers from the late ’90s has completely left the field, except for Eric Dadian, who has stayed at the helm of the AFRC “longer than Putin has stayed in power.”
https://en-contact.com/the-last-two-founders-of-foundever-jump-ship
During the government news briefing, Minister Dornan was asked if he was concerned about the recent difficulties at Foundever Corporation.
“I’m not worried,” said Dr. Dornan. “They will complete that contract. We’re not entertaining other options at this time. We expect them to deliver. In the last two weeks, [they’ve been] very forward, speaking to us. We are giving a level of care better than we’ve ever done, so I’m not worried about the financial stability of Foundever.”
