Letter to Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor

Dear Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor,

Allow me to introduce myself; I am the president of Canada’s nurse practitioner association. 

Thank you for your service to Canadians.

Many nurse practitioners in our association are your constituents and have requested us, their national association, for advocacy.  We have received these requests from all provincial and territorial nurse practitioner associations and individual nurse practitioners.

We are reaching out to you, the Federal Minister of Health, for assistance with a problem for the many Canadians whose health care provider is a nurse practitioner. The language in parts of federal medical insurance plans omits nurse practitioners as recognized health providers who are regulated and legislated to provide health care services. This omission means many Canadians are not able to access care in a timely manner.

We need the language amended in federal insurance plans to be inclusive and equitable for Canadians who have nurse practitioners as their health care practitioner. Federal insurance plans need to reflect the scope of practice and competencies of nurse practitioners to write prescriptions for medications and medical services, for example physiotherapy or massage therapy, and products such as ostomy supplies and various orthopedic support braces.  Government programs and insurance plans need language amendments that are inclusive of nurse practitioners as regulated and legislated health care providers who have the requisite skills within their scope of practice to provide these services. 

A significant amount of resources have been invested in developing and integrating nurse practitioners in the health care system since 1998 with provincial and territorial governments recognizing the scope of practice of the nurse practitioner. Citizens who have nurse practitioners providing their care should not be subject to less coverage than those who receive care from a physician.

I look forward to a reply. Our association is determined to remove barriers for equitable health care to Canadians.