Editorial: N.B. should hire more NPs, reform doctor billing practice to improve access to family doctors

Discussing waiting lists for access to family doctors, at an editorial board meeting with The Telegraph-Journal last June, NB Health Council CEO Stéphane Robichaud said he believed the problem wasn't fundamentally a doctors’ shortage. Instead, it was an issue of rules and management of the system and the lack of focus on reducing costs. This editorial suggests two policy changes the government could implement to quickly improve access to primary care. First, it suggests the province hire more nurse practitioners as primary care providers to reduce wait lists. Second, it believes the government can reform the doctors' billing numbers system as it sees the billing numbers model as a deterrent to doctors who may wish to come to a specific area of the province.