Thread by @IMNCanada

I'm going to unpack something that was said by the Ministry of Health with regard to the IMN campaign. MAJOR h/t to @emmapaling for extracting this quote:

/1

@emmapaling "Ontario’s Ministry of Health won’t cover autism therapies because they’re not provided by a physician, government spokesman David Jensen told HuffPost by email.

He said OHIP covers relevant services, like the diagnosis of autism, that are provided by a medical doctor. " /2

@emmapaling For those who want to read it and missed it yesterday, it's here.

msn.com/en-ca/news/can…

So let's unpack this statement and see why it's incorrect and inconsistent. /3

@emmapaling First of all, certain autism-related therapies ARE covered by OHIP and ARE NOT provided by a physician. Examples include OT and physiotherapy.

otontario.ca/understanding-…
collegept.org/patients/Acces…

Neither OT or PT can be found on doctors.cpso.on.ca/?search=general under "specialization".
/4

@emmapaling Now that we've established that, let's have a look at certain additional services...specifically, psychology:

camh.ca/-/media/files/…

/5

@emmapaling "Other mental health care providers, such as registered psychologists ... may be free if they work in government-funded hospitals, clinics, agencies, or an employee assistance program."

So why is this significant? Psychologists can clinically supervise ABA therapies. /6

@emmapaling children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English…

So let's recap:

1) Autism therapies other than ABA are freely available through OHIP under certain circumstances.
2) Psychological services can be made available through OHIP under certain circumstances.
3) ABA can be supervised by a psychologist. /7

@emmapaling All of this begs the question: if services that aren't administered by a physician can be made available through OHIP, and psychological services are one of those services, why isn't ABA? And why did the @ONThealth spokesperson issue a statement that is demonstrably false? /8