New Brunswick’s nurse practitioners are raising awareness of the important role they play in providing quality primary care.
They say our province is falling behind when it comes to providing health care to its residents.
President Elect Raelyn Legacy says they are facing barriers, “We are able to work independently but the government will not allow us access to the publicly funded system. Physicians are allowed to bill the Medicare system, whereas Nurse Practitioners are not.”
She says if a Nurse Practitioner wants to work independently outside of the Health Authorities, she has to charge the patient directly, “We as nurse practitioners don’t want to have the only option of working within these health authorities. We want to be able to work outside them if that is our choice.”
New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that does not allow laboratory and diagnostic privileges to independent Nurse Practitioners. She says it is time for New Brunswick to catch up to other Canadians.
About 40,000 New Brunswickers do not have access to a primary care provider, but Nurse Practitioners could help fill some of that gap if changes are made.
Nurse Practitioners of New Brunswick look forward to working with a newly elected government to ensure that New Brunswickers have the same opportunities for quality health care as all other Canadians.
