Facility-based care

The LFP Payment Model and family physicians providing facility-based care services

We continue to build on the foundation of the LFP Payment Model, which has covered clinic-based longitudinal care to date, to develop a comprehensive payment model that encompasses the full scope of what family doctors do. This includes care they provide outside of their offices or clinics. With the incorporation of some facility-based care into the LFP Payment Model, longitudinal physicians can bill under the LFP Payment Model for care in the current settings (office and home) as well as facility-based pregnancy and newborn care in hospital, inpatient, long-term and palliative care. 

The principles of the LFP Payment Model remain constant:

  • Equitable compensation across all services.

  • Simplicity of administration - a payment mechanism that is simple to access and administer.

  • Maintain physicians’ professional agency and clinical judgement.

  • Physician health and well-being.

  • Health equity – so that all British Columbians can access the same level of high-quality care no matter where they live.

The LFP Payment Model for facility-based care includes three key elements that are consistent with the LFP Payment Model for clinic-based care: 

  • Time codes

  • Interaction codes

  • Rural Retention Program premium. 

Rural retention premiums continue to apply to all time and interaction codes in the payment model.

To access billing information on LFP for facility-based care, visit BC Family Doctors’ Simplified LFP Guide (login required).

For information or additional questions, please reach out to the FPSC Billing Support team at: FP.Billing@doctorsofbc.ca(link sends e-mail).

On-Call/Availability Payments 

On-call/availability payments for facility-based care are a new element. These on-call/availability payments are not part of the LFP Payment Model itself, though they were designed with an understanding of how the LFP Payment Model’s time and interaction codes work for facility-based care. The payments recognize the necessity and challenge of having a physician be available 24/7 to respond to the care needs of patients in different settings. 

For maternity care, the on-call/availability payment is funded and provided through the Medical On-Call Availability Program (MOCAP). For more information on maternity care funding visit the FPSC’s maternity webpage. For long-term care and inpatient care, the on-call/availability payments are funded and governed by FPSC. This is an evolution of FPSC’s current initiatives in long-term care and inpatient care.

More information about facility-based care can be found:

Fee-for-service

BC’s physicians are compensated in a number of ways, including fee-for-service. Doctors of BC’s goal is to support physicians in having compensation options for operating their practices in a way that best suits the patient care that they provide. A strong fee-for-service model system model helps to ensure choice, and Doctors of BC, BC Family Doctors, and the Ministry of Health are working to simplify and modernize fee-for-service to ensure that it remains a viable compensation model. 

Similar to the LFP Payment Model, the Medical Services Commission (MSC) approves a list of fees, published as the MSC Payment Schedule, payable to enrolled physicians for insured medical services. To receive payment from BC's Medical Services Plan (MSP) for insured services provided to eligible patients, physicians must first enrol with MSP to receive a billing number. For more information, please see the BC Ministry of Health's website. 

Doctors of BC maintains and publishes the Fee Guide on behalf of its members. The Fee Guide lists the services insured by the Medical Services Plan (MSP) and provides recommended private fees for non-MSP insured services. Members can access the entire Fee Guide, or search by a specific section (login required). For questions about fee-for-service, contact .

BC Family Doctors publishes useful tools and resources to simplify your billing and compensation options (login required). The resources include a Simplified Fee Guide, Billing Question Library, and additional billing support.

Rural physicians

Programs and supports are available to rural physicians through the Rural Practice Subsidy Agreement. Find out more on our Programs for Rural Physicians webpage (login required). 

The Resource-Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) develops and supports strategies that improve the health of individuals and rural communities.