Ontario\u2019s Ministry of Health says it is launching an investigation into the practices of an Ottawa Appletree clinic after a woman was charged $110 to see a nurse practitioner for a routine cancer screening test.<\/p>\n
Eileen Murphy says she registered with the Appletree clinic near Carling and Woodroffe last year because both she and her husband were without a family doctor. Their former doctor switched her practice from family medicine to dermatology in 2022.<\/p>\n
But when Murphy tried to make an appointment for a routine Pap test recently \u2014 part of the Ontario government\u2019s preventative cervical cancer screening program \u2014 she was told the doctor she was registered with through Appletree was now located in Northern Ontario. She tried other doctors but they said they wouldn\u2019t take her without a referral. She was told she could make an appointment with a nurse practitioner for the test at the Appletree clinic on Carling Avenue, where she had registered.<\/p>\n
When she got there, she says she was stunned to see a \u201claundry list\u201d of fees to access the nurse practitioner and have the test performed. In Murphy\u2019s case, because she is over 50 and has an OHIP card, the fee was $97 \u2014 $110 with taxes. Patients under 50 are charged $49, plus taxes, for an appointment, Murphy saw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ontario\u2019s Ministry of Health says it is launching an investigation into the practices of an Ottawa Appletree clinic after a woman was charged $110 to see a nurse practitioner for a routine cancer screening test.<\/p>\n
Eileen Murphy says she registered with the Appletree clinic near Carling and Woodroffe last year because both she and her husband were without a family doctor. Their former doctor switched her practice from family medicine to dermatology in 2022.<\/p>\n