Private primary care clinic in Halifax says it’s helping address health-care gaps

Business has been steady for a private health clinic that opened its doors in Halifax 14 months ago.

The founder of Bluenose Health Primary Care Clinic says the practice is helping Nova Scotians access the care they need amid lengthy waits in the public system.

CEO Randy Stevens says since opening its doors on Young Street in February 2023, the private clinic has been offering a subscription-based, nurse-practitioner-led service.

“Generally speaking patients will see the same nurse practitioner or nurse every time they come in,” he explains. “It’s not like a walk-in clinic. It’s more like the old-fashioned doctor’s office.”

The service is delivered through a monthly subscription fee — $27.50 for adults and $9.50 for children — and patients are also charged per visit. An initial assessment has a $99 fee.

Stevens was inspired to launch Bluenose Health after losing his family doctor and struggling to access primary care.

Since opening, he says the clinic’s client base has steadily climbed and staffing has increased to three nurse practitioners and three registered nurses.

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“We’re not full yet — it’s a confidential number — but we’re not at full capacity yet,” Stevens says. “We are still taking new patients.”

He says the private service is helping to address gaps in Nova Scotia’s healthcare system. As of May 1st, 158,375 Nova Scotians are on the Need a Family Practice Registry.

Although some private insurance companies reimburse, Stevens says generally the expenses are out of pocket.

“We’re having ongoing discussions with the Department of Health about potentially reimbursing our patients directly for the services we’re supplying them,” he says.

Meantime, Bluenose Health Nurse Practitioner Carolle Nazair agrees the clinic is a way to support more people without a family doctor.

“It’s very rewarding and gratifying when clients come in and say ‘I’m so happy I found you, I haven’t had a primary care provider in years’,” she says. “Not having a primary healthcare home is very challenging for many people, especially if you have a chronic health disease. It is very challenging because you need routine care.”

Nazair says the clinic is also unique in its focus on offering hormonal care.

“It’s an area of health that is often misunderstood, under-diagnosed and under-treated, and I feel very passionate about that area of health,” Nazair says. “I do hope we’ll be able to expand a little bit more on that particular area.”

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Since opening the Halifax location, Stevens has also launched a second clinic in Mahone Bay along the province’s South Shore.

Although finding health-care workers has been challenging, he says neither location has pulled staff from Nova Scotia’s public health system.

“They’re all folks that had been working out of the province, that either have a connection here and wanted to return or wanted that work-life balance,” he says. “Some of them have been working with private enterprise to begin with.”

In a statement, the Department of Health says it believes in a publicly funded health-care system where Nova Scotians can get the care they need.

“Public-private partnerships provide care with no out-of-pocket expenses for the patient,” the statement says. “We have no oversight over privately funded health-care providers, and users should be aware of the risks and ask about the qualifications of the providers in these environments.”