The issue of billing MCP for the services provided by a Corner Brook clinic operated by nurse practitioners is more complicated than just allowing it to happen.

Health Minister John Haggie says the clinic was set up before a framework on the delivery and billing of services provided by nurse practitioners was established.

Since then, three family practice clinics in the region closed, causing more patients to seek out services through the nurse practitioner clinic and leading to calls for a funding model to be established.

It’s a conversation being had with representatives of the Registered Nurses Union says Haggie as the health care system moves away from the fee-for-service payment model.

He says the framework has to be done right, even if it’s done in an ad hoc way to address the needs of that particular group.

Essentially, he says, it has to be done under the terms of collective bargaining and must be done with the RNU who, like others in the health care system, are dealing with concerns surrounding staffing and burnout caused by COVID-19.