Under the 2023 Physician Agreement, the Collaborative practice incentive program (CPIP) will stay in place for fee-for-service family physicians until fee codes are established to enable family physicians in a collaborative practice to bill for time spent collaborating with others.

The program remains unchanged until the Fee Committee establishes the new fees; continue to bill as usual unless advised otherwise.

Eligibility criteria

To receive a CPIP incentive payment, all of the following eligibility criteria must be met:

1. You must have minimum total insured billings/payments of $100,000, including $25,000 of office billings, during the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, prior to the payment.
2. You must be participating as a member of an eligible collaborative practice at the time of application.
3. The collaborative practice must consist of a minimum of two family physicians and one “collaborating other licensed health-care provider” as defined by the program guidelines. This does not include specialist physicians.

Your eligibility isn't dependent on the billing levels of other physicians. Minimum billing criteria are waived for physicians who have practised in Nova Scotia for less than the 12-month billing period used to determine program eligibility for the annual payment (that is, new graduates and physicians who have relocated to Nova Scotia from elsewhere).

Not eligible

The following practice situations and/or activities aren't eligible for this payment:

• Participation in a community on-call rotation as the primary collaborative activity.
• A physician who collaborates with other physicians and health-care providers at occasional clinics (e.g., well women’s clinic) but not as part of his/her core community family practice.
• A solo physician who practises with another health-care provider, such as a nurse.
• Co-located physicians with separate practices and separate patient populations who may occasionally cover each other’s practice (for example, when the other physician is on vacation).
• Talking to or consulting with other health-care providers, such as pharmacists, who don't work as an ongoing integral part of the collaborative practice team. 
• Locum physicians.
• Walk-in clinics. 
• Hospital-focused collaborative practice groups (e.g. family physicians covering inpatients.)