Panel Management Support Program

April 5, 2024

The Panel Management Support Program (PMSP) is a temporary program, funded by Alberta Health, which provides eligible physicians financial support for costs related to panel management and practice improvement activities. This funding was announced in October 2023 when the Modernizing Alberta's Primary Health Care System (MAPS) final panel reports were released.

In the recommendations coming out of the MAPS final reports, the government laid out immediate actions to address urgent issues in primary care and to provide Albertans more access to family physicians. Part of these actions included financial incentives for physicians participating in panel management:

“…allocating $57 million over 3 years to provide family doctors and nurse practitioners with support to help manage costs related to their increasing number of patients. Each provider has the potential to receive up to $10,000 annually”
 
The PMSP provides family physicians and rural generalists with financial support to help manage the costs related to caring for an increasing number of patients. Funding through the PMSP is intended to be an immediate action to address urgent issues in primary care.

Panel management and practice improvement activities support the Patient’s Medical Home and strengthens continuity of care for Albertans. Alberta Health requires that PMSP funds be used to fund staff, technology and/or other practice resources in order to reduce the time, cost and effort spent on administrative tasks involved in providing comprehensive, longitudinal primary care.

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Eligibility Requirements

Eligible primary care physicians can now begin receiving funding in quarterly installments. The PMSP is anticipated to provide ongoing funding until March 31, 2026.

Eligible family physicians and rural generalists who meet the following requirements are eligible to receive funding through the PMSP:

  • Must be entitled to receive payment of benefits under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan AHCIP.
  • Must be a general practitioner, family practitioner, or family medicine specialist practicing in a community-based primary care clinic. This includes physicians practicing at Primary Care Network clinics and Alberta Health Services-operated family medicine clinics.
  • Must be registered and in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA).

Payment conditions and amounts

Alberta Health sets out the conditions for payment and requires family physicians and rural generalists to sign a declaration in order to receive payment. The declaration is an agreement that PMSP funding will be used to support panel management and practice improvement activities.

Eligible costs must have been incurred when the physician was eligible for the PMSP.

Primary care physicians will be allocated funding based on panel size. Family physicians and rural generalists with a minimum panel size of 500 will receive funding as follows:

Location

Panel Size

Funding/Year

Funding/Quarter

Urban

500 - 899

$4,000

$1,000

Urban

900 - 1299

$8,000

$2,000

Rural

500 - 1299

$8,000

$2,000

Rural and Urban

1300+

$10,000

$2,500

Alberta Health calculates panel sizes by allocating patients to eligible physicians according to CPAR and/or the patient's visit history.

Physicians live on CPAR are allocated patients from their CPAR panel and "topped up" through the remaining allocations 2-5.

Physicians not on CPAR are allocated patients through billing in allocations 2-5.

Allocation

Grant Agreement

Allocation 1

Patients who are on one CPAR panel are allocated to that panel's primary eligible physician.

  • CPAR panel information is reviewed three months retrospectively and the panel size is taken from the last submitted record.
  • Patients that are listed on two or more CPAR panels are allocated according to subsequent cuts based on fee-for-service or shadow billing.
  • Eligible physicians that share a CPAR panel will receive an equal portion of the payment based on their shared panel size.

Allocation 2

Patients who have seen only one eligible physician are allocated to that eligible physician.

Allocation 3

Patients who have seen more than one eligible physician are allocated to the physician with the majority of visits.

Allocation 4

Patients who have seen multiple physicians the same number of times are allocated to who did the last physical exam.

Allocation 5

Patients who have seen multiple eligible physicians the same number of times and have not had a physical exam are allocated to eligible physician who last saw the patient.
  • Allocations 2-5 are based on the past 18 months of billing data. Patients who have not been seen in the last 18 months will not be allocated unless they are on a single CPAR panel.

Receiving payments

Step 1
All eligible members will receive an email the week of February 12, 2023 with a link to the declaration page in their member dashboard. Eligible members must click the link, login to the dashboard and sign the declaration. Members should ensure that all personal and banking information is up-to-date.

Step 2
AMA members who are 1) on Alberta Health’s list of eligible physicians and 2) have completed the declaration in their member dashboard and updated their banking information, can expect to receive funding through direct deposit.

NOTE: If you are a non-AMA member, please email programpayments@albertadoctors.org. You will be provided with an email copy of the declaration to be signed and returned along with confirmation of your mailing address to receive payment.

Questions?

If you have questions or require assistance, please reach out to programpayments@albertadoctors.org.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions document.

Alberta Medical Association Mission: Advocate for and support Alberta physicians. Strengthen their leadership in the provision of sustainable quality care.