Is an ADHD assessment covered by Medicare in New Brunswick?
Quick answer
Partly. When your own family doctor or a psychiatrist you were referred to assesses your adult ADHD, New Brunswick Medicare treats it as insured and nothing is billed at the visit. Regulation 84-20 under the Medical Services Payment Act excludes several physician services outright, including psychoanalysis and any exam or certificate done at a third party's request, and Medicare never pays a psychologist, a private nurse practitioner clinic or a virtual clinic. Those routes bill you directly, sometimes offset in part by a workplace extended health plan.
Medicare pays the physician, and Regulation 84-20 spells out what it will not pay for
New Brunswick Medicare, run under the Medical Services Payment Act, pays licensed physicians for medically necessary care given to a cardholder. An ADHD assessment done by a family doctor, or by a psychiatrist you were referred to, falls squarely in that category, so the visit itself carries no bill. What trips people up is Regulation 84-20, the rule that lists services Medicare treats as not entitled at all, even when a physician provides them.
Schedule 2 of Regulation 84-20 excludes psychoanalysis outright, so a physician who bills that way is not paid by Medicare for it. It also excludes any exam, certificate or record review done at the request of a third party, such as an employer, an insurer or an immigration file, and it excludes telephone advice or a prescription renewal that is not specifically listed in the province's fee schedule. In practice, this is why a signed letter your workplace or a school asks for about your ADHD can carry a separate physician's fee even though the assessment behind it did not.
| Route | Paid by Medicare? | How you book | What lands on you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family physician | Yes, the assessment itself | Book with your own doctor | Nothing, unless a third party requests a separate letter |
| Psychiatrist | Yes, the assessment itself | Your physician or nurse practitioner sends the referral | Nothing at the visit; waits vary by health zone |
| Horizon or Vitalite mental health intake | Yes, where offered | Self-referral or referral, depending on the program | Nothing; adult ADHD assessment availability varies by zone |
| Registered psychologist in private practice | No, excluded from Medicare entirely | Self-referral | Full private fee; extended health may reimburse part |
| Virtual nurse practitioner clinic such as Finding Focus | No | Self-referral, book online | One-time private fee; see the New Brunswick cost page |
Horizon and Vitalite are the two doors into the no-fee route
New Brunswick splits public healthcare delivery between two regional authorities, Horizon Health Network and Vitalite Health Network, and both run community mental health centres across their health zones. Whether a given centre's intake accepts adult ADHD assessment, rather than treating it only when it shows up alongside another diagnosis, depends on the zone, so the honest step is to call intake and ask directly before assuming a wait applies to you.
- If you are unattached, New Brunswick's patient registry is the formal route to a family doctor; booking privately with a nurse practitioner clinic covers the gap in the meantime.
- A psychiatry referral in New Brunswick comes only through a physician or nurse practitioner, never by self-referral, and the wait for a non-urgent adult referral can run into months depending on the zone.
- New residents typically face a waiting period before a Medicare card takes effect; confirm the current length with Medicare before assuming same-day coverage.
Going private buys speed and self-referral, at a fee the province does not set
A registered psychologist's ADHD assessment, findable through the College of Psychologists of New Brunswick's public search, is usually the most thorough private option and is priced by the practitioner, not the province. Finding Focus, a virtual nurse practitioner clinic licensed in New Brunswick, charges a one-time fee for a video assessment; the full breakdown of that fee and of ongoing-care pricing is on the sibling page about how much an ADHD assessment costs in New Brunswick, rather than repeated here.
Whoever diagnoses you, the prescriber for any resulting medication has to be a physician or a nurse practitioner; a psychologist's report is taken to one of them for that step, since psychologists cannot prescribe. Who can actually make the diagnosis in this province, and what each regulator requires, is covered fully on who can diagnose ADHD in New Brunswick.
An extended health plan and the CRA credit can offset what Medicare will not
A workplace or school extended health plan often reimburses part of a psychologist's fee under a paramedical or mental-health benefit, up to an annual maximum, though coverage for a nurse practitioner's fee varies by insurer and is worth confirming before you book. Student plans are handled on the sibling page about whether student health insurance covers an ADHD assessment. Separately, the Canada Revenue Agency's medical expense tax credit lets fees paid to an authorized practitioner be claimed; keep the receipt and check the CRA's New Brunswick listing for which professions qualify.
The New Brunswick Drug Plan is a separate program from Medicare, with its own eligibility rules
Medicare's insured-services list stops at the physician's door; it does not extend to medication. If an assessment leads to a prescription, what you pay depends on whether you qualify for the New Brunswick Drug Plan, an income-tested program, or carry a private plan through work. Which ADHD medications the New Brunswick Drug Plan lists, and the income and application rules for joining it, are covered on whether the New Brunswick Drug Plan covers ADHD medication rather than here.
Weighing a wait against a fee in New Brunswick
If your family doctor is willing to take on an adult ADHD assessment, or Horizon or Vitalite intake in your zone accepts it, the insured route costs nothing and keeps every record with one system. If you have no family doctor, your doctor prefers to refer and the psychiatry wait in your zone is long, or you need documentation on a shorter timeline, a private or virtual assessment trades a fee for speed and self-referral. A diagnosis from a licensed clinician carries the same standing with a New Brunswick physician regardless of which route produced it. The free screener at get started is a screening tool, not a diagnosis, and any assessment, public or private, can conclude that you do not have ADHD.
Common questions
Related questions, answered
No. Regulation 84-20 excludes any exam, certificate or record review done at a third party's request, which covers most letters written for an employer, insurer or school. This applies even though the underlying assessment, if done by a physician, was itself insured. Ask the clinic for the letter's fee before requesting one.
No. The New Brunswick Drug Plan is an income-tested program with its own application, separate from Medicare and separate from who diagnosed you. A prescription from a physician or a nurse practitioner, following any route's diagnosis, is treated the same way by the Plan. Details of what it lists for ADHD medication are on its own sibling page.
The visit itself is not billed to you, since the nurse practitioner is salaried within the public system, but that is not technically a Medicare payment to a private billing nurse practitioner; it is the province funding the position directly. A nurse practitioner in a private or virtual clinic charges a fee that Medicare does not touch either way.
Usually, provided the clinician is a physician, nurse practitioner or a psychologist registered with the College of Psychologists of New Brunswick. Each institution sets its own documentation standard, and some want recent testing rather than a short letter, so ask the accessibility office what it requires before paying for a report.
Helpful next steps
References
- 1.Government of New Brunswick: Regulation 84-20 under the Medical Services Payment Act, Schedule 2 non-entitled services View source ↗
- 2.College of Psychologists of New Brunswick: Find a Psychologist View source ↗
- 3.Canada Revenue Agency: Authorized medical practitioners for the medical expense tax credit View source ↗
- 4.Sun Life: Provincial healthcare coverage, what provincial plans do and do not cover View source ↗
This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional about your individual situation. If you are in crisis or thinking about self-harm, call or text 9-8-8, Canada’s Suicide Crisis Helpline, at any time.
Finding Focus uses AI tools to help research and draft some articles. Every article is edited and fact-checked by the Finding Focus team before publication. See our editorial and medical review policy.
