Breaking down Ontario’s investment into primary health care providers

Welcome back everyone. So last month the Ford government announced an investment in new primary care teams to help solve the doctor shortage in this province. The Ontario College of Family Physicians estimates that 2.3 million people in our province are without a family doctor. And the problem is only growing. Nurse practitioner LED clinics are a big part of the government’s plan to address this. So let us welcome Michelle Acorn, Dr. of Nurse Practitioners and the CEO of the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario. Good morning and welcome Michelle. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me here. Thank you for for your time. Let’s start with your reaction to this budget line. Do you think it’s enough to fill the gaps and give Ontarians access to the healthcare they need? Great question. Actually. We’re we’re pleased with the investment and commitments, but we have a lot more work to do to ensure that Ontarians have access to care and that includes nurse practitioners as well. And I feel like perhaps a lot of people in this province aren’t necessarily sure, footedly aware of how nurse practitioner LED clinics serve the community. Could you explain that? Yes and and language is really important. So thank you for that question. Nurse practitioner LED clinics by the way Ontario was the first to invest in them. We have 25 across Ontario, 26 will be opening in Ontario and Ottawa shortly. With some of these investments, nurse practitioners or employees or benefit and receive benefits and they practice in a inter professional team as well and they provide primary care across their community. Can nurse practitioners bill OHIP? Nurse practitioners at this point of time are not able to bill OHIP. However, it’s important to be able to deliver publicly accessible and insured services for sure. Are there any limitations on the care that that this group can provide? There are actually no limitations on the care that this group can provide. By the way. Nurse practitioners are highly educated and skilled. They’re already experienced registered nurses. Before they go on to continue advanced education in assessment, diagnosis, prescribing. They can refer to specialists, They can assess and provide made medical assistance in dying. They, by the way, are the most researched professional. They have improved healthcare access. They have effective patient outcomes. They’re able to reduce emergency visits and hospital readmissions and alleviate pressures. They also build team capacity and really function well in collaboration and working with teams. But they’re independent and autonomous yet interprofessional. Yeah. And just in, you know, our own reporting and and just gathering information on this very subject, there have been numerous testimonies of patients who who say that this was really a game changer for them in terms of getting that timely care. But I was also just curious what your response is to maybe the critics who might say this is a slippery slope towards the undoing of publicly funded healthcare, not just in Ontario but right across Canada, right. I think we we need to just again the nurse practitioner LED clinics and that model of care specifically are publicly funded. I think what you might be actually referring to are some of the clinics that are now opening in response to lack of publicly funded and insured services and nurse practitioner being able to access flexible funding alternatives. The public trust nurse practitioners, they want nurse practitioners as their primary care provider right now. And right now nurse practitioners are ready, willing and able to do that and just a mechanism that can be available for publicly funded. This is a community response right now and it’s really important to provide that safe, quality care and uphold our citizens health. Excellent. Well, Michelle, thank you so much for providing that clarity and also insight on this topic. Have a great day. You too. Take care. Bye, bye. Thank you.