Concerns rise over Ancaster private clinic charging for primary care

Several health unions and a local MPP are voicing concerns over a private clinic in Ancaster that is charging for primary care.

The clinic is run by nurse practitioners and the group says that since it can’t bill OHIP, it’s completely legal.

Holistic Solutions NP opened at the beginning of this year and the lead nurse practitioner, Christopher Savard, says they would love to be publicly funded, though at the moment they cannot and the need for more family doctors continues to grow dire.

Savard says since he launched the clinic last month, it has amassed around 30 patients, most of whom landed there because they remain on a waitlist for a family doctor.

“We’re fully in favour of publicly funded clinics and unfortunately for us, we can’t bill OHIP and this is our only option if we want to have independent nurse practitioner clinics.” he said.

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According to the clinic’s website, a same day urgent care visit is $80, an initial mental health assessment is $240, a children’s checkup sits at $120 and a follow up will cost $80, with some exceptions.

The Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario says a clinic like this where patients pay out of pocket for primary care is allowed.

“If you looked at the Canada Health Act it actually covers services for physicians and hospitals, so nurse practitioners are implicitly mentioned under the Canada Health Act.” explains Michelle Acorn.

She says there’s an overwhelming demand for healthcare and these clinics are helping to ease the issue.

“This is in response to publicly needed accessible care, so it’s almost a stop-gap measure at this point in time. They are trying to respond to the community needs unfortunately due to the public funding models that are happening right now.” said Acorn.

However, the Ontario Health Coalition and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) both say it’s not okay and is not a suitable temporary solution.

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“I question the motive actually. It’s not in accordance with the spirit or intent of the Canada Health Act and RNAO does not support user fees at all, not for doctors, nurses, RN’s, nurse practitioners.” says Dr. Doris Grinspun with the RNAO.

Several health unions and MPP Sandy Shaw say it falls back on the government to do more to fund healthcare.

“This solution is a privatized solution, it shouldn’t be the case,” said Shaw. “We should have public dollars going into our public system because people should get healthcare no matter how much money they have.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Health says at this time, services delivered by nurse practitioners, who are not part of a NP-led clinics, are not covered by OHIP.

It is a violation of the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act (CFMA) to charge an individual for an OHIP insured service or a component of an insured service.

Last week the province announced that it would be investing more than $110-million to connect more than 300,000 people to primary care teams and this could mean more NP clinics could be publicly funded.