Sask. nurse practitioners say they should be able to bill province for private services

Registered nurse practitioners who run private clinics in Saskatchewan say they could play a larger role in health care if they could bill the province for services.

Registered nurse practitioners who run private clinics in Saskatchewan are asking for legislation that allows them to bill the government directly for services they provide to patients.

Joelynne Radbourne a registered nurse practitioner who  runs a private clinic in Emerald Park, says she is one of the three nurse practitioners running private clinics in the province. She has 400 patients and takes walk-ins.

“In private practice, as you can see, it’s a warm it’s a welcoming environment. You get 30 to 60 minutes with me. I’m able to fully address all your concerns when you come in. It’s just a different approach,” Radbourne said.

Janelle Sebastian, who has been seeing Joelynne at her private clinic for the past six months, chose this option because of the reduced wait time.

“I choose to use this private clinic because the wait times are shorter, my appointments are not rushed. Joelynne spends an incredible amount of time with me to know my health history,” Sebastian said.

The head of the Saskatchewan association of nurse practitioners, Johanne Rust, says registered nurses have always been able to go into private practice and nurse practitioners are registered nurses first.

“All registered nurse practitioners became licensed in this province in 2004. So potentially any time after 2004, nurse practitioners were able to set up private practice. So that’s going on 20 years now,” Rust said.

Nurse practitioners provide many of the same services as doctors and therefore should be paid by the province.