How to apply for the LFM payment model

Before you begin, it’s important to note that four weeks’ notice is required to process your application and get you set up on the LFM payment model, so choose a start date no sooner than four weeks in the future.
 

1. Contact your DNS physician advisor: They will assist you in completing your documentation and answer any questions you may have.
2. Determine your ME=CARE panel size: Email the Department of Health and Wellness (DHW) at LFMfunding@novascotia.ca to request your ME=CARE panel size based on past billings. Physicians can verify their ME=CARE panel size through a panel validation exercise. To do so, email LFMfunding@novascotia.ca and ask for a panel validation. The DHW will provide further instructions, including your ME=CARE panel size,
   which you should compare to your EMR panel.

• New-to-practice physicians have a protected panel for their first year, based on the FTE in their offer letter (1317 for a 1.0 FTE). The panel portion of your LFM remuneration will be based on this number.
• Fee-for-service physicians’ panel payment will be determined by your current panel size. Your EMR panel and the panel calculated by DHW may vary. If you’d like to get a sense of what your panel payment will be for you LFM remuneration before your conversion, you can request a panel validation exercise through DHW to verify. Email LFMfunding@novascotia.ca to initiate the process. This is not a requirement, but available to you if you wish to participate.

3. Complete the contracted activities document: It is a good idea to complete this document along with the help of your physician advisor. Once complete, send the contracted activities document, along with your start date, to LFMfunding@novascotia.ca. The DHW will complete the process by sending you a contract to sign and notifying MSI to issue the Business Arrangement (BA) numbers you will need.

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 help you set up your LFM contracted activities. Read everything before beginning. You can also contact your DNS physician advisor for assistance.

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. Enter your provider profile information
2. Under “Practice Profile,” enter your office/clinic manager or administrator as the primary contact. Also list the other providers in your clinic and support staff. Your clinic manager or Primary Health Services Lead can help you obtain this information.
3. Fill in your projected hours in the “Clinical Working Time” section. Please see the section “Be smart about projected hours of work,” below, for tips before completing this section.
4. 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.