The Ford government has no immediate plans to shut down for-profit nurse practitioner clinics in Ontario despite receiving clear direction from the federal government on the gradual elimination of the fee-for-service facilities.<\/p>\n
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The province has been under pressure from health-care advocates and political opponents to tackle the rise of private nurse practitioner clinics that charge patients for everything from initial intake visits, urgent appointments, follow-up appointments and prescription refill requests.<\/p>\n
While Canada\u2019s health-care system prevents out-of-pocket fees, private nurse practitioner clinics began popping up in 2024 after they didn\u2019t receive provincial funding as part of the Ford government\u2019s nurse practitioner-led clinic program.<\/p>\n
Last spring, more than a dozen such clinics popped up across the province.<\/p>\n
The Canada Health Act also allowed nurse practitioners to operate in a grey area since the law governing the country\u2019s health-care system only included language around physicians and hospital workers but didn\u2019t specifically outlaw private clinics from opening.<\/p>\n
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Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones called that a \u201cloophole\u201c that prevented the province from cracking down and repeatedly asked the federal government for clarification on the Canada Health Act.<\/p>\n
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In early January federal Health Minister Mark Holland updated the Canada Health Act to specifically allow provinces to treat nurse practitioners and pharmacists like physicians, letting them create billing codes for additional health-care providers and creating a path for independent nurse practitioner-led practices to operate under the public system.<\/p>\n
At the time, Holland also told provinces his expectation was that they would enact the changes, which come into force in 2026. Provincial governments that fail to implement billing codes would see health-care funding withheld, Holland said.<\/p>\n
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