The Alberta government says it will pay nurse practitioners 80 per cent of what family doctors are paid – if they want to practice comprehensive primary care.
A payment model for the new Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Program has been finalized.
The program, announced in November, will allow nurse practitioners (NPs) to operate their own publicly-funded practices, whether in stand-alone clinics or in existing primary care clinics.
“It will certainly expand access for individuals who want to find a primary-care provider, given the fact that we will now have nurse practitioners who can have their own panel of patients,” Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said Wednesday.
LaGrange said NPs will have to apply and be accepted into the program.
To qualify, a practitioner must commit to caring for at least 900 patients and offer after-hours services …