NP clinics in Alberta?

[X-treme]

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if NP's in Alberta can open and operate their own clinic independently without a physician? Does anyone have information that could assist me in this inquiry?

Thanks,

-Steve

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

So far nothing I've been able to find supports the existence of nurse practitioner owned and operated clinics in Alberta. The provincial information site has the following description of the nurse practitioner profession: http://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/Content/RequestAction.asp?aspAction=GetHTMLProfile&format=html&occPro_ID=71017912&SNT_ID=25 but nowhere does it say that nurse practitioners in urban areas work entirely independent of a physician. There's also nothing that says they can't, but it talks about "salary", which suggests that NPs are not given billing numbers to bill AHS directly. I haven't been able to find any reference to NPs and direct billing at all. A browse through the Yellow Pages brings up exactly one listing for nurse practitioner. All the clinics and primary care networks are physician-driven. So my gut feeling is that right now, there are no NPs in independent practice running their own clinics in Alberta at this time.

[Fiona59]

The NPs I've worked with have either been in a facility setting or a clinic setting. I do remember the NP in the clinic had a provider number issued by the govt. But I think it was more for coding of test results.

[mobstfeld]

I wonder about this question... could an NP lead a Family Care Clinic (FCC) in Alberta? I know Primary Care Networks (PCN) are physician lead but it is not clear who can be the lead of a FCC... would be interesting if an NP took on that task and if it could be done through billing as the government information states a grant would be given to pay staff.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Because there never was any specific structural or functional plans for Alison Redford's FCCs, that's a difficult question to answer. There are three pilot clinics in the province, but it's quite likely there won't be any more. The unelected Premier Jim Prentice and his unelected Minister of Health Stephen Mandel haven't made any guarantees that this model of health care will be continued.

[mobstfeld]

Not that I'm supporting Redford but the idea of the FCCs was an interesting one for NPs over the PCNs of late. My thought is that at least FCCs give a possible opportunity for nurses to play more leadership roles over having to be under the management of a physician. Perhaps why the FCCs that have been tried were not as successful as they could be? Is Alberta ready for nurse lead clinics?

[BinaNP]

There is a private clinic owned by a NP in Calgary. She practices integrative medicine and there are two primary care NPs who have started a general practice. I'm one of them . Feel free to have a peek: evolvewell.ca.

Honestly, when it comes to NPs in this province, I feel our biggest barrier is that the general public doesn't know what a NP is and what it is we do. That and the lack of an alternative funding model.

[OptNurse]

Bump