February 1, 2024

First year anniversary of LFP Payment Model and revised LFP Payment Schedule

Doctors of BC and BC Family Doctors continue to work with the Ministry of Health to improve and expand the Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) Payment Model. We continue to listen to your feedback and make payment model changes to address your concerns. To submit questions or feedback, please email FP.Billing@doctorsofbc.ca.

In this newsletter, we are providing information on the following:

The LFP Payment Model’s first year anniversary
Update on LFP Payment Model expansion - informational, on-demand recording coming soon
Revised LFP Payment Schedule – effective February 1
Tips for lowering your audit risk
Two-week trial membership with BC Family Doctors

Celebrating the first year anniversary of the LFP Payment Model

As of today, it is one year since the launch of the historic LFP Payment Model for in-office work. We now have roughly 4000 family physicians enrolled in this model. This seismic shift around how family physicians are compensated is something to celebrate as work continues to expand the payment model to include family physicians providing care in facilities.

LFP was developed in response to an urgent need to retain and attract family physicians in community longitudinal practice. This payment model is the result of what you told Doctors of BC, BC Family Doctors, and the Ministry of Health that you needed to stabilize and strengthen community longitudinal family practice.

We’ve heard from many of you that the LFP Payment Model has made a difference for you and your patients. Here are some recent success stories:

We’d love to hear from more of you about your experiences with the LFP Payment Model. Please share a short blurb and a photo to communications@doctorsofbc.ca about how the payment model has changed your practice and positively impacted your patients.

Expansion to facility-based care – informational, on-demand recording coming soon

As announced in December, we are continuing our work to expand the LFP Payment Model into four areas of facility-based care: in-patient, maternity, palliative, and long-term care.

Later this month, we will be sharing information about eligibility, time codes, interaction codes, and on call/availability payments as part of an informational, on-demand recording in an up-coming edition of this LFP newsletter. We hope this new format will provide greater opportunity to be informed about the expansion, as you will be able to view the content at your leisure rather than needing to carve out time during busy work days to join a live webinar.

You can also expect to see updates to both the BC Family Doctors and Doctors of BC websites as well as helpful FAQs.

Updates to the LFP Payment Schedule – effective February 1, 2024

Revisions to the LFP Payment Schedule include three important updates:

Locum Services: To support locum coverage for physicians providing care for rural and vulnerable communities, the definition of a “host physician” has been updated. The revised definition now includes family physicians remunerated under the following APSA Contracts:

General Practice – Full Scope (Rural) – Area A, B, C
General Practice – Full Scope (Non-JSC Community)
General Practice – Defined Scope B (Student Health Centres)

This change to the definition will be reassessed in October 2024, as part of the ongoing work to support rural communities through the LFP Payment Model.

Contraception and Medical Abortion Services: To enable care to patients not on your patient panel, complex contraception services and medical abortion services will no longer have a 30% limit. Complex contraception service is defined in the LFP Payment Schedule as “contraceptive care related to procedures and surgeries (e.g. intrauterine devices, contraceptive implants, vasectomies, tubal ligations), medically and socially complex patients, patients referred by a physician or allied care provider, and gender-affirming care.”

Similar to maternity services, physicians must submit a specific ICD-9 code to identify these services as exempt from the 30% limit. Detailed billing information can be found in this news item on the BC Family Doctors website.

Cervix Screening: Cervix screening is transitioning from cytology to HPV testing as the primary screening method for cervical cancer. Wording in the LFP Payment Schedule has been updated to clarify that cervical cancer screening that includes the use of a speculum can be billed as a standard procedure (98021/98051). Detailed billing information can be found in this news item on the BC Family Doctors website.

We recommend reviewing the updated LFP Payment Schedule in its entirety to ensure that you are billing accurately. Several important changes have been made in the last three months.

BC Family Doctors’ web resources, including the Simplified LFP Guide and Billing Question Library, are being updated to reflect all of the changes to the payment schedule.

Tips for lowering your audit risk

The LFP Payment Model is a new way of thinking about billing. Not surprisingly, it’s taking time for physicians to understand the nuances of this compensation choice.

You, as the physician, are responsible for what is being submitted to MSP even if your staff or others submit billings on your behalf. Check out some LFP Payment Model billing tips which can help lower your risk of an audit here.

Two-week free trial with BC Family Doctors

Do you have a physician colleague who could benefit from the LFP Payment Model billing tools that you access on the BC Family Doctors website? Or perhaps you are not a member yourself?

Try a free two-week trial membership!

Learn more about the free trial membership as well as member benefits on the BC Family Doctors website.

Need more information?

Write us

Email: FP.Billing@doctorsofbc.ca

View our information online (member login required)

Doctors of BC: doctorsofbc.ca/new-payment-model
BC Family Doctors: https://bcfamilydocs.ca/lfp-payment-model/
BC Government website: gov.bc.ca/MSP/LFP (login not required)