P.E.I. Nurses' Union applauds change to Canada Health Act

P.E.I. Nurses' Union welcomes the upcoming change to the Canada Health Act, which will allow nurse practitioners to contribute more to the health-care system on the Island.

Starting April 1 next year, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and midwives will be able to bill for medically necessary services.

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland announced the change last week that provincial and territorial health plans will cover primary care provided these professionals by as part of an overhaul of the Canada Health Act.

The union's president, Barbara Brookins, said giving nurse practitioners, pharmacists and midwives billing numbers will help relieve the Island's patient registry and that nurse practitioners are currently under-used.

"The opportunities are endless, but right now they're very restricted, so we need to allow them the autonomy to say how they want to practice and what they can do to help the health system right now," Brookins told CBC P.E.I.'s Island Morning.

In a statement, Erin MacKenzie, the executive director of the P.E.I. Pharmacists Association, said it's too early to discuss the implications, and they'll have a better idea after a meeting later this month.

Jill Nafziger, president of the P.E.I. Midwives Association, said in an email that she knows "very little about these changes and how they may affect midwives in the province."

Unlocking new opportunities

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with extra training, which lets them order tests, prescribe medication, manage chronic diseases and make referrals to specialists.

Brookins said it's been about 20 years since nurse practitioners started working on P.E.I. They began by working collaboratively with physicians, and now they work autonomously with their own health-care practices, manage their own patient panels and take patients off the registry.

"Unfortunately, they're kind of caught in between belonging to the nurses' union and being salaried, different from what a physician is, where a physician is able to be salaried and also have the ability to bill for additional services — that responsibility of a primary health-care provider."

The change to the Canada Health Act next year, Brookins said, will provide a lot more autonomy for nurse practitioners, especially if they choose to open their own private clinics or walk-in clinics, where they will be able to bill the health-care system the same way doctors do.

That will allow them to think outside of the box in how they can practice. Right now on P.E.I., they're pretty much restricted to working within Health P.E.I., the union's president said.

"If we have nurses who can work outside of the traditional structure that's been set up for them, then we may see them in different areas and being more willing to support the health system in spaces where they haven't been before," Brookins said, adding those spaces could include specialty practice and prenatal care.

Future workforce

Nurse practitioners on P.E.I. are already doing important work and contributing significantly to the Island's health care. They are present in many areas and can already perform many duties typically carried out by physicians, Brookins said.

"I think it's going to be pretty enlightening for Islanders to realize that they are replacing physicians in some areas where a physician has left and they've moved a nurse practitioner in and they're also now in the medical homes and working in practices where they are taking patients off the registry."

The opportunities are endless, but right now they're very restricted, so we need to allow them the autonomy to say how they want to practice.- Barbara Brookins

There are currently students in the final stages of their education, and when they complete it, the union estimates that could potentially lead to 20 new nurse practitioners who will be able to take patients off the registry. Many of those students also have working experience within Health P.E.I.

"I'm hoping that someone's got an eye on them and is making sure that they certainly commit within our health-care system here on P.E.I.," Brookins said.