Bonjour-santé and RVSQ: What are the differences?

In Quebec, there are a number of platforms available for quickly searching for medical appointments online. Two of the most popular are Bonjour-santé and the Québec Medical Appointment Scheduler (known as RVSQ). Although they both offer access to medical appointments, they provide different health services depending on your needs.

Below is a clear comparison to help you better understand Bonjour-santé and RVSQ.

Bonjour-santé : appointment booking, symptom checker, search assistant and more

Book an appointment

Bonjour-santé is a free health portal used by millions of patients every year that offers a variety of services: 

  • Search for appointments with your family doctor.

  • Search for appointments with your family medicine group (if your doctor is not available).

  • Search for walk-in appointments within 36 hours at a clinic near you.

  • Search assistant that takes over and continues to look for an appointment with your family doctor if you cannot find one.

  • Online symptom checker

  • Tool that lets you view emergency room occupancy rates across Quebec.

Québec Medical Appointment Scheduler (RVSQ) : appointment booking

Book an appointment

RVSQ is a free online search engine that provides access to medical appointments at clinics.

What RVSQ offers:

  • Search for appointments with your family doctor.

  • Search for appointments within your family medicine group (if your doctor is not available).
  • Search for walk-in appointments at a clinic near you.

Bonjour-santé’s complementary health services

In addition to providing access to medical appointments in the public network, Bonjour-santé, unlike RVSQ, also offers a range of complementary services through an optional membership.

These services include:

  • Pharmacists who can prescribe and ship medication without the member having to leave home.
  • A search assistant that finds medical appointments for members according to their criteria.

  • A team of nurses who advise members by chat or e-consult.

  • A liaison team to help members find specialised appointments (with specialists, for tests, etc.).
  • A search engine to find appointments with specialists.

  • Exclusive discounts on private medical services: minor emergencies, sleep programmes, weight loss, etc.
  • Nutritionists who can answer members' quick questions and analyse their food diaries.
  • An online dermatological condition analysis tool that can recognise more than 30 skin conditions.

Comparison between Bonjour-santé and RVSQ

Free access

✅ Yes

✅ Yes

Appointment search with family doctors

✅ Yes

✅ Yes

Walk-in appointment search

✅ Yes, with results usually within 36 hours

✅ Yes, depending on available slots

Automated search assistant

✅ Yes, automatically continues searching

❌ No

Online symptom checker

✅ Yes

❌ No

Emergency room occupancy rate

✅ Yes, displayed in real-time

❌ No

User-friendliness

Fast, responsive interface 

Clean interface, sometimes slow

Real appointment availability

Varies according to clinic, but usually high

Unavailable in 75% of searches

Delay in finding appointments

Fast, specially with the automated search 

Varies

Reminders and notifications

✅ Yes, personalised SMS, emails and phone calls

✅ Yes, SMS and emails

Optional membership

✅ Yes

❌ No