August 8, 2024

New LFP Payment Schedule

Doctors of BC and BC Family Doctors continue to work with the Ministry of Health to refine and improve the Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) Payment Model. We continue to listen to your feedback and adjust the payment model 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:

• Updated LFP Payment Schedule effective August 7
• A change to how time codes are submitted 
• PMA increases for the LFP Payment Model
• Transition Funding for Inpatient Care and On-Call/Availability Funding
• Top billing questions

Updates to the LFP Payment Schedule - effective August 7

The new LFP Payment Schedule, effective August 7, includes several changes to ease billing and respond to physician feedback/questions. 

Key changes include:

• Submitting time codes using the first patient for whom you billed an interaction code in that setting 
• Simplifying time code billing
• Clarifying how excluded services are billed
• Identifying which Facility Number to use for setting registration codes and billing codes

We recommend reviewing the updated LFP Payment Schedule in its entirety to ensure that you are billing accurately. BC Family Doctors’ web resources, including the Simplified LFP Guide and Billing Question Library, are being updated to reflect all of the changes in the payment schedule.

Submit time codes using the first patient of the day for each setting

The new LFP Payment Schedule has been updated to enable you to submit time codes using the first patient for whom you billed an interaction code in each clinic or facility setting. Thank you to the many physicians who let us know about the challenges of the previous submission process. 

Since the launch of facility-based care billing as part of the LFP Payment Model, we’ve received many questions about why time codes need to be submitted using the PHN and demographic information of the first patient of the day.

• The patient information is simply a mechanism to allow you to submit claims through MSP/Teleplan as all claims require a patient name and other information. Due to the volume of time code billing, a single “generic patient,” similar to enrolment/registration codes, is not sufficient for LFP time code billing. 
• Using a single patient’s information for each setting assists claims processing and adjudication process. This will provide more accurate and timely payment for physicians.
• The patient information is not being used by MSP or audit to track which patient you saw first.
• Discussions are ongoing to determine an improved mechanism for time code billing.

PMA increases for the LFP Payment Model

The 2022 Physician Master Agreement (PMA) provided funding to improve the LFP Payment Model.

This funding has been deployed throughout the development of the LFP Payment Model for:

• Increasing the average panel payment from $42,500 (time of announcement of LFP Payment Model) to $66,900 (effective April 1, 2023)
   
• Funding to initially populate the new Provincial Attachment System (PAS) in 2023/24 - related payments for
  • Panel Submission and Panel Registry Payment ($6,500 per physician)
  • Clinic and Provider Registry Payment ($2,000 per medical director)
• Increasing the rate for births and pregnancy-related surgical assists in response to physician feedback

This is a different process than the fee-for-service increases as the payment model is still in the early stages of development. As time and interaction codes have not been increased to date, retroactive payments have not been required. Discussions are ongoing about how any remaining funding will be allocated.

Transition Funding for Inpatient Care and On-Call/Availability Funding

The Family Practice Services Committee (FPSC) recently provided an update on FPSC Transition Funding and On-Call/Availability Funding for Inpatient Care.

• The Transition Funding is available from now until December 31, 2024 to help communities maintain inpatient care services during the transition to LFP-facility billing along with the evolution of FPSC supports. It will be administered by local divisions of family practice.

• The On-Call/Availability Funding for Inpatient Care is paused until January 2025 to allow divisions and physicians more time to consider how to organize and optimize their call services to better support physicians in response to the change in funding. 

Read the full announcement in this recent news item from the FPSC. For more information about Transition Funding for Inpatient Care, visit the FPSC's inpatient care page.

Answers to your top billing questions 

Here are the answers to some of your most frequent questions about billing:

• Am I required to bill under the LFP Payment Model for all settings where I provide care?

• Can I be paid under the LFP Payment Model at one hospital/facility and another payment model at another? 

• Can I bill travel time when travelling from my home to a patient care site to provide urgently required care?

• Can I continue to bill the quarterly maternity network payment? 

• Which patient do I use for submitting time codes?

• What patient information should I use on a day when I only provide indirect care or clinical administration?

There are hundreds more billing questions and a full suite of billing support tools on the BC Family Doctors’ website. You can also reach out to the FPSC Billing Support team for help: FP.Billing@doctorsofbc.ca.

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: bcfamilydocs.ca/lfp-payment-model/
• BC Government website: gov.bc.ca/MSP/LFP (login not required)