Evidence suggests that health outcomes are improved when patients have an established relationship with a family physician who quarterbacks their care. Managing CPAR conflicts strengthens those relationships and is a foundational step towards building a stronger Patient’s Medical Home.
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Why Work on Conflicts Now?
It’s good for patients and providers:
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Improves care continuity and patient attachment
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Reduces the risk of information being copied on or routed to the wrong provider
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Ensures others in the system can correctly identify the primary care provider
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Reduces duplicate referrals, diagnostics, prescriptions, etc.
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Improves the accuracy of HQA reports
- Its a requirement for PCPCM physicians
- It makes for a good CPSA Physician Practice Improvement Program (PPIP) activity
It takes time:
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If your conflict rate is high, it could take several months to address
Conflict Definition & Conflict Report
When a patient is paneled to more than one CPAR panel, the patient is in conflict. This occurs when a patient is attached to more than one primary care provider.
An authorized CPAR Panel Administrator can download monthly CPAR Conflict Reports for a physician. These reports can be used to begin resolving conflicts and contain a list of all patients in conflict, along with details about the conflicting provider and clinic.
Getting Started with Reducing Conflicts
Physicians should work with their teams to implement a structured, ongoing Conflict management process. Here's how to get started:
Physician To-Do List
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Ask your Panel Administration (PA) for a monthly Conflict Rate update via the CPAR Conflict Report.
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Set a strategy with your team for prioritizing Conflicts and a timeline for reaching a lower target Conflict Rate.
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Discuss how involved you'd like to be - you may want to be part of patient-level discussions or be provided an update once conflict resolutions are in progress or have been resolved.
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Ensure your team understands how to use your EMR to panel and unpanel patients from CPAR.
- When providing episodic care, such as referred services and walk-in visits, those patients should not be added to your CPAR panel.
- Ensure patients are paneled only when they receive the majority of their longitudinal, relationship-based family medicine care at your clinic.
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Use AMA's template to develop telephone scripts for patient conversations about continuity and attachment.
Team To-Do List (Panel Admins, MOAs, etc.)
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Download and sort the CPAR Conflict Report based on established priorities and processes. This report is available on the 24th of each month.
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Distribute the sorted report to the physician and/or team members assigned to resolve Conflicts.
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Contact patients in Conflict using an approved telephone script and record the patient's response and any action taken in their chart. If the patient confirms they are no longer your physician's patient, unpanel them in the EMR. If the patient confirms they are no longer a patient of the conflicting physician, fax the conflicting clinic and request that the patient be unpaneled.
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Contact the physician when cases are complex or next steps are unclear.
- Understand how to unpanel patients when conflicting clinics have confirmed a patient's attachment and request that they be removed from the physician's CPAR panel.
Provincial Conflict Statistics
Click image to view a PDF of Alberta's Monthly Conflict Statistics including Zones
PCNs will receive monthly reports for all panels affiliated with their PCN. Note that because these reports are provided to PCN staff who may not be authorized CPAR Panel Administrators for all the providers in this report, provider and panel names are not included.
Conflicts FAQ
The AMA and AH are working on ways to help clinics manage conflicts for which the conflicting provider has not unpaneled despite several requests. The good news is that experience suggests that this situation is uncommon for most conflicts. The current recommendation is to move on to resolving other conflicts while AMA and AH considers additional ways to address these situations.
No. This is an example of appropriate “dual-attachment”. In these cases, it is important for both of these physicians to panel the patient in CPAR to ensure good care continuity. AMA and AH will work on how to maintain this kind of appropriate dual-attachment while minimizing the financial impact on PCPCM physicians.
Resources for Conflict Management Process Development
Fax Template: Notification to Change Primary Provider
Notification to Change Primary ProviderSample fax template to send to conflicting clinics. This can be personalized for each clinic.
Sample Script for CPAR Conflict Calls
Sample Script for CPAR Conflict CallsA sample script that can be used for CPAR Conflict calls
CII/CPAR Go-Live & Beyond
CII/CPAR TrainingAn online course that covers conflict management in great detail.
CPAR Panel Administrator Handbook
CPAR Panel Administrator HandbookSee page 7 for conflict management guidance.
CII/CPAR Team Toolkit
CII/CPAR Team Toolkit for Primary CareSee Module 5 for CII/CPAR guidance in primary care settings.
How to Unpanel Patients from CPAR by EMR
How to Unpanel Patients from CPAR by EMRThis article describes how to unpanel a patient in the clinic Electronic Medical Record (EMR), in order to remove them from the provider’s CPAR panel.
Continuity Posters
Continuity PostersPrintable posters for clinic walls to help start conversations with patients about the importance of attachment and continuity of care.
CII/CPAR Roles and Responsibilities
CII/CPAR Roles and ResponsibilitiesRoles, responsibilities, and tasks of the practice facilitator, site liaison, CPAR access administrator and CPAR panel administrator.
PCPCM Payments & CPAR Conflicts
PCPCM Payments & CPAR ConflictsAn overview of CPAR Conflicts and how physicians and teams can get started on Conflict management processes ahead of April 1, 2026, when panel payment calculations change.