How to apply for the LFM payment model

Family physicians interested in converting to or starting a practice under the LFM remuneration model will complete the following steps.

1. Contact your DNS physician advisor: Reach out to the DNS physician advisor for your zone; they will address any queries or concerns you may have regarding the LFM.
2. Determine your ME=CARE panel size: Email the Department of Health and Wellness (DHW) at psaccountability@novascotia.ca to request your ME=CARE panel size. This is based on past billings. Physicians may wish to verify their ME=CARE panel size through a panel validation exercise. To initiate this process, email psaccountability@novascotia.ca and indicate your interest in a panel validation. The DHW will provide further instructions, including your ME=CARE panel size, which you should compare to your EMR panel.
3. Review your information, then propose a start date: Once you decide to proceed with the LFM, email psaccountability@novascotia.ca with a proposed start date that is at least four weeks in the future.
4. Download and complete the contract: Upon receiving confirmation of your start date, download and complete the contract and contracted activities template. Physicians have one week from the confirmation of their start date (see Step 3) to return a signed contract.
5. Email documents: Email your electronically completed and signed contract and contracted activities template to your DNS physician advisor, with a copy (cc) to the DHW at psaccountability@novascotia.ca.

MSI has lots of resources available online, including the LFM Contract Filling Instructions, LFM Contract template and others.

Setting up your contract

The following tips will support you in completing your contract and schedule. Read everything before beginning.

MSI provides instructions on how to complete the LFM Contract and Schedule A online. Open the MSI document LFM Contract Filling Instructions and consider these notes as you go.

Populating and signing the contract

1. Your start date must be approved by the DHW before you fill out the contract. Do not start filling out the contract until you have received this approval.

Populating the Schedule A: Contracted Activities template

1. Under “Practice Profile,” enter your office/clinic manager or administrator as the primary contact.
2. Before you fill in your projected hours in the “Clinical Working Time” section, calculate the number of clinical hours you’ll contract to work each week (see “Be smart about projected hours of work,” below, for tips). Multiply this number by 46 weeks to input into Schedule A for your clinical working time per annum.
3. The sample practice schedule is intended to reflect a typical work week when you are seeing patients either face-to-face or virtually, particularly if/when you are offering access to patients outside of daytime hours. If you do paperwork in the evenings or on weekends with no patient contact at all, you can enter those hours in the appropriate time block, but you would claim these at the daytime (non-premium) hourly rate.