Maternity Care for BC (MC4BC)

Maternity Care for BC (MC4BC) is a 12-month self-directed learning and development program designed for family physicians who want to provide full-service pregnancy and newborn care in their practices.

Through the program, participants work with a preceptor who mentors and supervises them in various health care settings, helping participants build confidence and improve their skills in providing antepartum care, labour & delivery, postpartum care and breastfeeding care. The FPSC provides MC4BC participants with a stipend while they complete their training.

By the end of the program, participants will feel prepared to confidently provide full-service pregnancy and newborn care independently. To support a smooth transition into independent practice, continued compensation is available to support ongoing mentorship conversations for up to one year.

Who should participate in this program?

  • New family physicians starting their family practice who want to provide pregnancy and newborn care services
  • Family physicians who have a family practice and want to begin providing pregnancy and newborn care services
  • Family physicians providing prenatal care who want to expand to offer full-service pregnancy and newborn care services and would like additional experience or training in deliveries.

For any questions about the MC4BC program, please contact fp.billing@doctorsofbc.ca.

How to apply 

Applications are accepted throughout the year, allowing participants to choose their own start and end dates. If you are interested in participating in the MC4BC program, please complete the checklist before starting the application form.

Please contact fp.billing@doctorsofbc.ca if you have any questions about the application. 

Application checklist
  • Review the following information:
  • Consider what your learning goals are for the MC4BC program. What would you like to gain from the program? During the application process, you will need to identify:
    • Three learning goals, with at least one goal related to labour and delivery and one goal related to antepartum/postpartum care
    • Activities that will support these goals 
  • Identify preceptor(s) to support your training. If you would like to be matched with a preceptor, contact fp.billing@doctorsofbc.ca
  • Identify the site(s) at which you’d like to complete your MC4BC training. Ensure that you confirm what the privileging requirements are at your training site prior to applying for the program. If you need support identifying a training site, contact fp.billing@doctorsofbc.ca
  • Discuss your learning goals with your preceptor(s) before applying to the program to ensure that the site and group are a good match for your learning goals
  • Complete the MC4BC Facility Letter of Support and obtain a signature from the health-authority approved physician lead (e.g., Chief of Medical Staff, Department Head, Division Head etc.) at your training site
  • Complete the MC4BC Application Form

Participant Information 

Please review this information before you apply to the program. 

MC4BC participant eligibility requirements
  • Registered and licensed physician with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia
  • Meet health authority privileging requirement(s) to provide pregnancy and newborn care at a hospital site
  • Have identified a facility site(s) and preceptor(s) with whom they will complete their MC4BC training

The MC4BC program is not available to physicians who are:

  • Not licensed family physicians in BC
  • Only wish to provide prenatal care as a part of their pregnancy and newborn care practice
MC4BC  participant expectations
  • Be active in their learning and create a self-directed learning experience, in consultation with their preceptor(s)
  • Care for patients across health care settings (i.e., in clinic, hospital and patient homes) to meet their learning needs and the patients’ care requirements
  • Assume more independence and responsibility for patient care throughout the program
  • Initiate and/or participate in quality improvement activities with the patient care team and with their preceptor (e.g., case debriefing, chart review or audits)
  • Provide care aligned with the principles of family medicine to provide longitudinal, comprehensive care with continuity over the maternity care period within the constraints of the MC4BC program
  • Submit the MC4BC Participant Claim Form once per month
  • Complete their training within 12 months of their start date

Preceptor information 

If you are interested in becoming an MC4BC preceptor, please contact fp.billing@doctorsofbc.ca. Stipends are availble for eligible preceptors (see funding details below for more information).

MC4BC preceptor requirements
  • Have a maternity care practice
  • Have hospital privileges
  • Are one of the following:
    • Family physician
    • Specialist
    • Nurse practitioner
    • Midwife
MC4BC preceptor's role and responsibilities
  • Review their participant’s learning plan
  • Help participants achieve their learning objectives by offering clinical practice learning opportunities
  • Supervise the following activities:
    • Direct patient care (i.e. antepartum care, in-hospital delivery, postpartum, breastfeeding support and newborn care)
    • Indirect patient care and administration (i.e. telephone calls with patients, ordering investigations, reviewing lab and imaging results, making referrals, charting in health records, giving handover reports, performing procedures, managing labour and performing a delivery)
  • Assist their participant in developing the full scope of skills and confidence necessary to provide pregnancy and newborn care in their own practice
  • Participate in quality improvement activities with their participant (e.g., case debriefing, chart review, audits)
  • Submit the MC4BC Preceptor Claim Form once per month
  • Foster a safe learning culture

Funding details 

MC4BC Participant Clinical Activities Stipend

MC4BC participants are provided with a stipend in lieu of income loss. Participants are compensated at the hourly JCC sessional rate ($176.18) for up to 210 hours for time spent doing deliveries, labour management, antepartum care, post-discharge postpartum care and breastfeeding support. Participants are not permitted to bill for these activities through MSP while completing their MC4BC training.

Labour & Delivery (up to 140 hours)
This time can be claimed for doing labour management and deliveries, providing postpartum care in hospital. If a participant exceeds 140 hours, they may seek approval from FPSC to use excess AP/PP/BF hours to further supporting their L&D training.

Antepartum, post-discharge, postpartum and breastfeeding support (up to 70 hours)
This time can be distributed across each area of care to best support participant learning needs. This care may be provided in-hospital, office, clinic or patients’ homes. If the participant feels comfortable doing prenatal clinic work independently, they may obtain approval from fp.billing@doctorsofbc.ca to only use MC4BC funds to support labour and delivery training.

 
MC4BC Participant Expenses Stipend 

MC4BC participants may also claim expenses under the categories listed below:

Education Stipend (up to $1000)
Participants may claim up to $1000 to support educational program tuition costs required by the Health Authority to obtain or maintain hospital privileges during the program (e.g., NRP, fetal health surveillance, ALARM, ALSO).

CMPA Insurance amount differential (up to $100)
Participants may claim up to $100 once during the MC4BC program for the difference in upgrading their CMPA obstetrical category professional liability insurance after application of the Doctors of BC CMPA Rebate for the duration of the program.

Participant Travel Stipend (up to $9500, for approved participants only)
Participants who have been approved for a travel stipend may claim up to a maximum of $9500 for travel expenses. To be eligible for the travel stipend, participants must either:

  • Complete their MC4BC training outside of their home community and/or,
  • Travel over 50km return to the MC4BC sites from their home location.
MC4BC Preceptor Stipend 

This stipend provides compensation to MC4BC preceptors to support their time spent supervising deliveries, labour management, antepartum, post-discharge postpartum care and breastfeeding support, and for time spent mentoring participants. This stipend can be claimed on top of regular MSP billings.

For supervising clinical activities

  • Per 1 supervised delivery
    • $100 for physician preceptors
    • $65 for non-physician preceptors

For supervised in-hospital deliveries. This amount cannot be claimed if the participant was not present for the delivery itself

  • Per 3.5 hours supervised antepartum, post-discharge, postpartum care, breastfeeding support
    • $100 per 3.5 hours for physician preceptors
    • $65 per 3.5 hours for non-physician preceptors

This care can be delivered in-hospital, office, clinic or patients’ homes. This amount cannot be prorated. Preceptors cannot claim fewer than 3.5 hours of supervised time.

For providing mentorship

  • In-training mentorship - up to 1 hour/month/participant, at hourly JCC sessional rate ($176.18)

This amount can only be claimed while participant is completing their MC4BC training. Mentorship time cannot be claimed for time spent supervising deliveries, antepartum care, post-discharge postpartum care or breastfeeding support.

  • Post-training mentorship - up to 3.5 hours/month/participant, at the hourly JCC sessional rate ($176.18)

This amount can only be claimed for up to 1 year after the participant completes their MC4BC training to support continuous learning.