Brisbane’s SmartClinics has scrapped its NP-led model due to poor financial viability and workforce supply issues, writes Linda Belardi.

The dumping of Australia's first standalone nurse practitioner-led clinic after just seven months has renewed calls to expand Medicare access for NPs working in private practice. President of the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, Helen Gosby, said the failed venture showed that the government's 2010 reforms granting NPs access to the MBS and PBS had not gone far enough. "This is another example where the reforms were the first step but there needs to be greater access to Medicare rebates so that nurse practitioners can actually operate to their full extent." After reviewing its...