Is Online Therapy Covered by OHIP? Video and Phone Rules Explained

The Government of Ontario's page on what OHIP covers says OHIP covers the full cost of medically necessary services from doctors, and that this includes medically necessary virtual visits delivered by video or telephone. The same page lists as not covered health services delivered outside hospital by providers who are not physicians or prescribed practitioners, and services delivered virtually through secure messaging or any means other than video or telephone.

Those two statements together give the shape of the answer. Coverage depends on who the provider is and what technology is used, and then on the relationship rule below, not on whether the session is online.

The Schedule of Benefits splits virtual care into two kinds. A Comprehensive Virtual Care Service is delivered where an existing or ongoing patient-physician relationship exists and, in the physician's professional opinion, the person's care can be effectively and appropriately delivered by video or telephone. A Limited Virtual Care Service is the same thing where no such relationship exists.

The Schedule says a relationship exists in any of four situations:

1. There has been at least one insured service with a direct physical encounter between the patient and that physician in the preceding 24 months.
2. The patient has signed the Ministry of Health's Patient Enrolment and Consent to Release Personal Health Information form and is enrolled with that physician or another physician in the same group under a Ministry alternate funding plan.
3. A specialist or a physician with a focused practice (one eligible for the focused practice psychotherapy premium) is providing, or has provided in the preceding 24 months, a consultation by video that the Schedule lists.
4. The physician provides, or has provided in the preceding 24 months, one of a short list of named services, such as certain initial assessments for substance use or palliative care consultations.

Under the third route, a listed video consultation counts. It does not mean any video visit does. A first video visit that is not one of the listed services, with no relationship behind it, falls under limited virtual care. A consultation is itself an assessment that follows a written request from a physician or nurse practitioner, and the Schedule's commentary says that where the visit leading to a referral was virtual, it expects the referring physician to have an established relationship with the patient and to have assessed the problem in person within the previous 12 months.

Where no relationship exists, the Schedule lists exactly two codes: Limited Virtual Care by Video, paid at $20.00, and Limited Virtual Care by Telephone, paid at $15.00. They pay for an assessment that includes at least history-taking and a medically appropriate examination to reach a diagnosis. The Schedule states no per-patient or per-year limit for them.

No psychotherapy or counselling code appears in that limited list. In other words, the Schedule's route for ongoing insured psychotherapy by video or telephone goes through an existing relationship, which is why it matters how that relationship begins.

Appendix J of the Schedule lists the services that can be delivered as Comprehensive Virtual Care. For therapy and counselling it includes:

Not on that list are in-patient psychotherapy and psychiatric care, and hypnotherapy. For those the Schedule lists no virtual route.

These are rules about what the physician is paid, not what you pay. You are not billed for an insured service.

• By video: paid at the same fee as the corresponding in-person service.
• By telephone: paid at 85 percent of the in-person fee. The exception is K005, K007, K197 and K198, the main individual mental health care and psychotherapy codes, which are paid at 95 percent.
• Focused practice premium: the 17 percent premium for physicians whose psychotherapy billings reach the qualifying share is also payable on virtual services, but only on the family-practice psychotherapy codes the Schedule lists for the premium, not on every psychotherapy code.

Our guide to the psychotherapy fee codes lists the in-person fees for each code.

• Both of you must be in Ontario. The Schedule says both the patient and the physician must be located in Ontario for the services to be insured.
• Video must use a verified solution. Video services are payable only when delivered through a Verified Virtual Visit Solution on Ontario Health's public list.
• In-person care must be available. The physician providing comprehensive virtual care, or the physician's group, must make services involving a direct physical encounter available.
• The visit must be appropriate for virtual delivery. It is not payable where it is not medically appropriate to provide the service without a direct physical encounter, and the physician must personally perform it.
• You or your representative start it. Virtual care services are not payable unless initiated by the patient or the patient's representative, with a stated exception for follow-up.

• If a physician offers therapy by video or phone and bills OHIP, you should not be charged. If you are asked to pay, ask whether the service is insured.
• Ask the practice how it establishes the relationship the Schedule requires, and whether that begins with an in-person visit or a listed video consultation.
• If you are using a private online therapy service, check whether the person delivering care is a physician billing OHIP. If they are a registered psychotherapist or psychologist, they are not a physician, so we read the Government of Ontario's list of non-covered services as meaning it is private pay.
• If your OHIP card matters for a virtual visit, ask the practice. The Schedule's virtual care section does not state a health card rule.

Several free programs offer virtual care. Ontario Structured Psychotherapy networks deliver guided self-help by phone or online and therapy virtually or in person, and BounceBack is delivered by phone with workbooks and videos. See the main free routes in one place.

The Government of Ontario does not publish a patient-facing page on OHIP virtual care that we could find. This page is built from the Schedule of Benefits for Physician Services (July 22, 2026, effective July 1, 2026) and from Ontario.ca's page on what OHIP covers. The Schedule does not state a health card rule for virtual visits. Its General Preamble describes psychotherapy as delivered with the physician in person, while its virtual care section allows video and telephone delivery of the same codes, and it does not spell out how the two fit together, so a physician's billing practice is theirs to explain. This is general information about how care is funded, not medical or billing advice.