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Expected to begin with the July 1 to September 30, 2026 payment period (paid on November 30, 2026), the LFP panel payment and CLFP Payment will transition to a new calculation methodology. Under the new methodology, the payment will be calculated using:
- Your panel registry in the PAS to measure panel size
- The CIHI Population Grouping Methodology to measure patient complexity
To prepare for this change, physicians are advised to review and update their panel registry in PAS before October 1, 2026. Learn more about the panel payment methodology change.
About the Provincial Attachment System
The Provincial Attachment System (PAS) is a provincial program delivered by the Ministry of Health, designed in partnership with Doctors of BC and Nurse Practitioners of BC.
The program was designed to help unattached patients across BC find a family physician or nurse practitioner, provide a complete picture of primary care clinics’ capacity and inform primary care health system planning. The PAS comprises three integrated registries:
- The Panel Registry (PR)
- The Clinic and Provider Registry (CPR)
- The Health Connect Registry (HCR)
Why should family physicians participate in the PAS?
The PAS is an online provincial platform where all longitudinal family physicians can securely share and maintain their list of empanelled patients and indicate when there is capacity for new patients. You can digitally review and select new patients, transfer your patients to other family physicians/nurse practitioners, and more—all done securely within the PAS.
Family physicians who are medical directors can share their clinic details (e.g. address, fax, phone, clinic members) in the CPR allowing other PAS users to get up-to-date clinic information.
Participating in the PAS is a requirement for the following family physicians:
- Those providing services under the LFP Payment Model.
- See "Required Services", Section 24 in the MSC LFP Payment Schedule.
- Those providing services under fee-for-service or an eligible General Full-Scope Service contract.
- See eligibility criteria to receive the FPSC Community Longitudinal Family Physician (CLFP) Payment.
Data in the PAS contributes to health human resources planning in your communities:
- Based on the PR and other sources, decision makers look at the available capacity among providers in the same community.
- Based on the HCR and other sources, decision makers look at whether there is a sufficient attachment gap in the community to justify a new service contract.
There are other criteria that the Ministry’s Planning and Implementation Oversight (PIO) teams use when considering requests for new family physician and nurse practitioner primary care service contracts.
Supporting patient and physician choice
The Ministry of Health and Doctors of BC remain committed to helping family physicians build balanced patient panels that support them and their patients.
- No doctors will be forced to increase their panel size.
- No doctors will be forced to take on new patients.
- The final decision on whether a new patient is a good match is left with the physician and the patient.
Physicians can continue to accept patients outside of the PAS (e.g. patients who are not on the Health Connect Registry). The goal is to attach as many patients as possible.