The Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Program will support nurse practitioners to work independently and provide Albertans with more access to primary care clinics
The Government of Alberta has announced the Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Program to enhance the ability of nurse practitioners to provide primary care through their own clinics, or independently within team-based primary care settings.
Through this program, nurse practitioners will receive approximately 80% of the compensation provided to family physicians who provide comprehensive primary care. Compensation will be determined by panel size (the number of patients a nurse practitioner sees) and the number of patient care hours provided. The program will enable nurse practitioners to practise comprehensive patient care autonomously and operate their own practices, or to practise autonomously in existing primary care clinics.
To be eligible for compensation, nurse practitioners must meet several requirements, including:
- Committing to provide medically necessary primary care services.
- Maintaining a panel size of 900 patients.
- Accepting walk-in patients as they build their panel size.
- Providing after-hours access on weekend, evenings, or holidays.
Participating nurse practitioners are also eligible for the Rural, Remote and Northern Program that provides funding as an incentive to practise in rural areas.
RMA members passed Resolution 17-22F: Government Funding for Nurse Practitioners, which calls for a salary-based funding model that will fairly and equitably compensate nurse practitioners for work in rural local care facilities and rural independent clinics. The Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Program is beneficial for ensuring that nurse practitioners are adequately compensated for the work that they do and ensures that Albertans will have increased access to a primary care provider. The RMA is looking further into the significance that this program will have in rural communities.
Kallie Wischoff
Policy Advisor
855.319.2245
kallie@RMAlberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@RMAlberta.com