What is panel management?

Panel management is a process of proactively managing a defined population of patients, using EMR data to identify and respond to patients’ chronic and preventative care needs. The concept is simple: better information about patients leads to better care for patients.

Why do panel management?

The phases of panel management is a framework designed to support doctors as they work to provide longitudinal, proactive care to their patients. An accurate panel means doctors can easily track billings, improve their workflows, improve communications with patients, and maintain a better work-life balance.

The three-phase approach to panel management helps doctors:

1. Improve practice workflow efficiencies.
2. Identify others who can help family doctors care for their patients.
3. Inform and plan proactive care.

What is involved in panel management?

Panel management has three phases:

1. Empanelment assigns patients to individual primary care providers. Having an accurate list of active patients for each provider improves continuity of care and enables population-based care.
2. Building registries involves creating registries that accurately reflect all patients within the panel that have a specific diagnosis and are properly coded with the correct ICD-9 code.
3. Pro-active and preventative care involves using updated data to implement proactive care goals using decision support tools in the EMR. 

Compensation

Family practice teams can receive payment for up to 15 hours in total to participate in each phase of panel management. Once three phases have been completed, family doctors will receive a $3,000 bonus payment.

Certification

Family doctors can earn up to 45 certified Mainpro+ credits (three credits per hour), for up to 15 hours in total for the completion of each phase of panel management.

PSP team members can create and support manageable steps to help physicians optimize their EMR data as they work through the phases of panel management.

How do I get started?

Contact your practice support coach or email us at psp@doctorsofbc.ca to get started.

How long does panel management take?

Each phase could take up to 15 hours of physician or staff time to complete and the total time commitment may be up to 12 months. The process is certified for three Mainpro+ credits per hour and is compensated at sessional rates.

Do I qualify for panel management?

To be eligible for sessional compensation, you must:

• Be a Community Longitudinal Family Physician^[1] practicing in British Columbia.
• Intend to remain the Most Responsible Physician/Provider (MRP) for your patient panel for at least the next 12 months.
• Be using an EMR system to document and manage patient medical information (including medical history, tests, diagnosis, and treatments) in the clinic you are undertaking panel management.
• Commit to completing phase one, two, and three of panel management in the next 12 months.

Each eligible family doctor can claim payments only once.

For questions about eligibility or payments, contact panel.incentive@doctorsofbc.ca.

Panel management training for medical office staff

GPSC offers medical office staff the opportunity to take the Panel Management for Family Practice program through the University of Fraser Valley. The program consists of seven modules with a final capstone quality improvement project implemented in-practice. It offers practical, skills-based training designed to meet the competencies of a panel manager, including basics of the patient medical home and primary care network, empanelment, registry-based care, pro-active and preventative care.

Current course: Tuesday evenings from January 10 to April 18, 2023.

Deadline to submit applications was December 12, 2022.

^[1] A family physician is working as a “Community Longitudinal Family Physician” (CLFP) when they do all of the following:

• Assume the role of Most Responsible Physician/Provider (MRP) for a known panel of patients. The GPSC defines a MRP as a physician who takes responsibility for directing and coordinating the ongoing care and management of a patient. This includes coordinating clinical services delegated to other providers, ensuring cross coverage when MRP is unavailable, and coordinating referrals to specialty care when needed.
• Confirm patient-physician relationship with their patients through a standardized conversation or “compact”, as outlined in PG14070.
• Provide, or coordinate delivery of, longitudinal full scope family medicine primary care services to a patient panel that is inclusive of patients of diverse demographics and medical needs.
• Work in community settings such as physician offices or health care clinics where patients are seen in person. CLFP may also provide some virtual services to their patient panel via telephone, video or other virtual care modality. CLFP may also provide some services to patient panel in facility settings such as hospitals, long term care, hospices, assisted living, or group homes.
• Maintain the comprehensive longitudinal medical records of each patient on patient panel.

A family physician is not considered to be working as a CLFP while they are working solely in one or more of the following health care settings:

• Episodic care settings such as (but not limited to) walk-in clinics, urgent care centres, and hospitals, where physician does not assume the role of MRP for patients.
• Virtual care settings where patient care is delivered via telephone, video, or other virtual care modalities.
• Focused practices serving a specific patient population or providing sub-specialty services such as (but not limited to) maternity care, palliative care, sports medicine, chronic pain, and addiction care.
• Facility settings such as (but not limited to) hospitals, long term care, hospices, assisted living, or group homes.

Hundreds of family doctors from across BC shared their ideas about the future of primary care as part of the FPSC’s visioning engagement process between July and September 30, 2015. This was a province-wide opportunity for every family doctor to contribute their thoughts about how they want to practice and care for their patients in the future.

Consultations with family doctors were the foundation of this process. All interested BC family physicians had the opportunity to identify important topics related to family practice, listen to the views of other family doctors, express their views, and have open discussions. Family physicians were invited to participate in any of the 26 in-person meetings co-hosted by local divisions of family practice and the Visioning Steering Committee and/or by joining online conversations.

The FPSC contracted a company called Thoughtexchange to provide and manage the online tool that was used in the initial stage of the online engagement process.

In addition to the Thought exchange conversations and in-person meetings, the members of the VSC initiated Digital Dialogue discussions on the important topics that they identified. These included:

• Recruitment and Retention: How can each of us help?
• After hours care: What is it and who should provide it?
• Must we be self-employed?
• Is family practice maternity care sustainable?
• Administrative overload: What Is the Answer?
• Is how we practice a barrier to full service FP?
• High functioning primary care needs team based care: Why are we holding back?
• Is the care we provide influenced by how we’re paid: What’s the right funding model?
• Can a walk-in clinic be your family doctor?
• What is the family physician’s role in hospital care?
• Primary care in urban and rural settings

All the feedback from family physicians has been captured in the Visioning Engagement Report, which is posted in the password-protected section of the Doctors of BC website. The report summarizes family doctors’ comments about the realities they face in practice, including what works well, what does not, and what changes they would like to see.  Topic areas include the vision of primary care in the future, scope of primary care services, practice and payment models, the role of the family doctor in team-based care, and physician health and wellness.

What’s next?  The FPSC is in the final stages of an extensive strategic development process based on what family doctors said, the work of divisions on the ground in their communities, and the strategic priorities of the FPSC’s partners and other Joint Clinical Committees.

This process will result in a family doctor-led vision of the future of primary care in BC that will drive the work of the FPSC for the foreseeable future.  When the FPSC’s vision and strategic direction are complete they will be shared with physicians and local divisions of family practice. Together, we can then discuss how this will impact the way doctors practice in the future, any issues, and work collaboratively on building the future of primary care in BC.

The Divisions of Family Practice initiative helps family physicians in BC communities to work together to enhance their practice and address gaps in patient care.

Divisions of Family Practice are affiliations of family physicians with common health care goals and/or in the same geographic area of BC.

This initiative was designed to increase family physicians’ influence on health care delivery or policy and provide personal and professional support for physicians. It gives physicians a stronger collective voice and more impact in their community while helping them work together to improve their clinical practices, offer comprehensive patient services, and influence health service decision-making in their community.

To achieve their goals, Divisions of Family Practice work in partnership with their health authority, the FPSC, and the Ministry of Health Services (MOHS). Together they are responsible for identifying the gaps that exist in patient care in a Division’s community and for developing solutions to their own particular issues.
 
For more information, email divisions@doctorsofbc.ca.

Maternity Care Network

The maternity care network incentives support family doctors providing obstetrical and full-scope maternity care to patients in their community through links primarily with other GPs. GPSC obstetrical delivery incentives are intended to encourage family practitioners to continue to provide intra-partum obstetrical care as part of their practice.

Click here for details in GPSC's related billing guide.

The FPSC Leadership and Management Development Program is a foundational program grounded in core concepts that are central to building or enhancing leadership and management capacity. The program complements other supports as a foundational learning resource for those involved in, or aspiring to, a leadership role within the primary care redesign.

“One of the most important highlights of this program is not only the teaching, but the teaching about humanity and humility. This is the area of my character I experienced the greatest amount of growth. For that I am truly grateful.” 

For more information, contact divisions@doctorsofbc.ca.

"To say this course has been life changing seems like an understatement. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to learn and grow with my cohort. I look forward to every opportunity I get to use the skills that I have learned." 

Meet the Visioning Steering Committee

The GPSC is pleased to introduce the 12 members on its Visioning Steering Committee, which is working to help the GPSC identify its priorities and plans for the next three to five years and to influence the future of primary care in BC.

The selection team chose the six physician representatives from 25 nominees submitted by the divisions. The methodology employed for candidate selection ensured equitable representation from the health authority regions and rural/suburban/urban geographies, and gave consideration to the physicians’ length of time in practice, their skills, and their competencies.

Here are the 12 members of the Visioning Steering Committee:

• Mark Armitage, Ministry of Health
• Dr Shelley Ross, Doctors of BC
• Dr Peter Barnsdale, Doctors of BC
• Dr Jean Clarke, BC Family Doctors (formerly, Society of General Practitioners of BC)
• Dr William Clifford, Prince George Division of Family Practice
• Dr Renee Fernandez, Vancouver Division of Family Practice
• Dr Lee Mackay, Kootenay Boundary Division of Family Practice
• Dr Scott Markey, Chilliwack Division of Family Practice
• Dr Annette McCall, North Shore Division of Family Practice
• Shana Ooms, Ministry of Health
• Petra Pardy, Fraser Health Authority
• Dr Trudy Woudstra, Cowichan Division of Family Practice