Hour 3 of Ottawa Now for Fri. January 10th, 2025

Thanks to a brand-new set of federal policy changes, nurse practitioners could soon be able to bill OHIP directly. In fact, these alterations have the potential to change the delivery of Canada-wide primary care as we know it. Would you see a nurse practitioner instead of a doctor? Kristy Cameron sifts through the textboard and tackles today’s Question of the Day. Meantime, new research from Public Health Ontario is examining the rise in accidental drug and alcohol-related deaths. The death toll has skyrocketed from an average of 4.5 deaths each day in 2018 to a whopping 8 daily deaths in 2022. And within a week of taking their last breath, nearly 33 percent of the people who died had sought help. How can we change that narrative and provide the urgent help that is required? Tara Gomes, an investigator with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, joins the show in Hour 3.