Ontario 'asking questions' about Ottawa clinic charging membership fee, health minister says
CTV
Ontario's health minister says the Ontario government and Ministry of Health will shut down any clinic charging for services covered by OHIP, as a clinic in Ottawa's south end is under scrutiny for charging a $400 membership fee to access a nurse practitioner.
Ontario's health minister says the Ontario government and Ministry of Health will shut down any clinic charging for services covered by OHIP, as a clinic in Ottawa's south end is under scrutiny for charging a $400 membership fee to access a nurse practitioner.
CTV News Ottawa first reported last week that the South Keys Health Center is charging clients a membership fee for access to a nurse practitioner, not a doctor. The health minister says the ministry is now investigating the clinic, although the clinic says the fee is legal.
"OHIP funded services cannot be charged in the province of Ontario. As soon as we learned that there may have been something happening in the Ottawa region, we opened a report and are asking questions," Health Minister Sylvia Jones told reporters at Queen's Park.
"If it is happening, then the practice will be shut down. I want to be very clear, our government has always said OHIP funded service will always and continue to be funded by your OHIP card."
Under provincial health laws, it is illegal for doctors to charge a fee for services that are covered by OHIP. The Ontario Medical Association says nurse practitioners cannot bill OHIP but they, or those who employ them, can charge patients for health-care services.
The South Keys Health Center clinical director Osman Nur told CTV News Ottawa last week that the $400 per person a year fee for access is, "called rapid access and it's perfectly legal."
"Nurse practitioners are the ones seeing you. They can do prescriptions, they can do a lot of health information, they can send you to a specialist."
