Are you a BC healthcare professional caring for a patient with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM)? This page has various NTM resources, including information about referrals and pulmonary NTM guidelines.
Effective September 17, 2024, the BCCDC no longer accepts new referrals for patients with Nontuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) disease living in the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) region.
Patients aged 18 and older, residing in the VCH region with a confirmed NTM disease diagnosis, are eligible for referral by their primary health care provider or medical specialist to the multidisciplinary Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) NTM Disease Clinic.
Visit the VGH NTM Disease Clinic page to review eligibility criteria and access the VGH NTM Disease Clinic referral form.
Medical provider-to-provider consults are available for patients with NTM disease who reside outside the VCH region.
Visit the VGH NTM Disease Clinic page to access the provider-to-provider consult request form.
Provincial TB Services (TBS) is committed to providing timely and appropriate tuberculosis (TB) care to British Columbians. However, TBS is not accepting new NTM patients.
Any BC physician who wishes to initiate NTM therapy for their patients is encouraged to provide this care. TBS physicians can offer prescription-only support with NTM management upon request.
To request prescription-only support, complete and fax the BCCDC NTM Clinic referral form.
To expedite medication access, please provide a completed and signed rifampin/rifabutin and/or ethambutol prescription request with the medication name, specific dosage (not mg/kg), interval, and duration.
In the Lower Mainland, requests must include the shipping address of the community pharmacy dispensing medications to your NTM patient. In all other areas of BC, requests must include the shipping address of the local health unit.
Medications shipped to a community pharmacy in the Lower Mainland may have extra costs applied (e.g., expedited shipments; community pharmacy professional fees; etc.).
BCCDC Pharmacy provides a limited number of medication supplies only. The referring physician is responsible for all care of their NTM patient. The community pharmacy or local health unit must address any clinical concerns (e.g., drug interactions) with the original (non-BCCDC) prescriber.
Pharmacies or local health units reordering NTM medications should include a completed TB Adherence and Medication Re-order Form.
Note: The BCCDC Pharmacy does not provide other NTM medications (including macrolides or Special Access Program drug requests). A local pharmacy can dispense these medications, or physicians can request specialty medications via Health Canada Special Access Program to the community pharmacy.
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These guidelines outline pulmonary NTM care pathways.
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These guidelines are for BC physicians who care for patients with pulmonary NTM in community clinics.
FAQs
Go to the BCCDC TB Manual Appendix E for directions on assessing Visual Acuity and Colour Discrimination. Referral to a community Ophthalmologist or Optometrist for visual monitoring is also an option.
Respirologists and Infectious Disease Specialists in each regional health authority support patients with NTM lung infections. Please contact a specialist in your area.
For patients living within the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) region (including Richmond, Vancouver, North Shore, Sea-to-Sky Corridor, Sunshine Coast, Powell River, Bella Bella, and Bella Coola), referrals can be made to the VGH NTM Disease Clinic.
In the lower mainland, medications are shipped to the patient's pharmacy for dispensing. In other areas of BC, medications are shipped to the local health unit. The BCCDC Pharmacy in Vancouver does not provide a walk-in (counter) service for filling NTM prescriptions.
Please allow an average of 2-3 weeks from sending the BCCDC NTM referral form with a prescription request for the NTM medications to arrive at the patient's pharmacy or local health unit.
