If there are nurse practitioners happy to hear the province’s announcement of a new funding model Tuesday, Karen Parker is not one of them, as she found out the hard way the difference between public and private health care.
Parker has been working on a proposal to open an innovative, flagship nurse practitioner clinic in Cochrane for years, and was informed this week by Alberta Health that her dream of opening as many as three clinics in and around Calgary has come to an end – the funding model is just not there for her.
Parker and her partners had already gathered investors, put down deposits, and had the ball rolling full speed, with an anticipated opening in Cochrane this summer.
The irony of the timing of the news was not lost on Parker when she spoke with The Eagle on Wednesday, the day after Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange stood in front of cameras at a provincial news conference to announce, “A new program will support nurse practitioners to work independently and provide Albertans with more access to primary care clinics.”
There is a fundamental disconnect between the government’s public trumpeting of support for nurse practitioners and what Parker says is actually happening with funding.
She and her partners have spent the better part of two years fine-tuning their proposal for an equitable funding model that would allow them to eventually open similar nurse practitioner clinics in Airdrie and Calgary. They chose Cochrane for the first location because of the fast-growing population and other demographics.
“We’ve been advertising, we were organizing to start as soon as an equitable funding model was provided," she said. "Sadly, the funding model that we were provided with yesterday – after the public announcement was made – without any further consultation or negotiation or information, is not viable."
What Alberta Health was willing to do for her wasn’t realistic, she said.
“It’s not sustainable, it’s really a disappointment.”
Parker and her now ex-partners are out about $30,000 in investment, not to mention the hours spent on developing their proposal.
“I spent four years working on the model,” she said.
The new model proposed by the government simply puts up too many roadblocks for her to consider soldiering on with the idea.
“It’s non-viable – we would be losing money,” she said. “We’re excluded from even applying for this. It’s misleading, and it missed the mark significantly.”
She said the province missed an opportunity to make real reforms to how nurse practitioners fit in.
“We could have done so much with this,” she said.
The government release said nurse practitioners will receive approximately 80 per cent of the compensation provided to family physicians who provide comprehensive primary care. 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.
“Nurse practitioners are a welcome and integral part of the solution to improving access to primary health care services. Finalizing this funding model is an exciting step forward in our journey to refocus health care in Alberta, and I’m looking forward to this expansion of health care services,” Smith said Tuesday.
Clinics, communities and Primary Care Networks can partner with nurse practitioners who are just entering practice by applying for one-time mentorship funding. Each mentor is eligible for $10,000 during a nurse practitioner’s first 18 months to ensure a successful transition to independent practice.
Nurse practitioners interested in practicing through this program can now submit an expression of interest to Alberta Health. Each expression of interest will be evaluated, and nurse practitioners who meet the requirements will be sent an application form.
Through a $2-million grant over the next three years, the Nurse Practitioner Association of Alberta will help nurse practitioners throughout the application process, recruit nurse practitioners to participate in the program and support them as they plan to work independently in an existing practice or set up their own clinics.
