Physician Contracts

For information on these programs, please click on the links or email Doug Blackie, Corporate Director, Medical Affairs.

Service Contracts 

Sessional Contracts

Doctor of the Day Contracts

SERVICE CONTRACTS
Service contacts are intended for physicians generally  providing full time service.  Compensation is based upon a signed agreement stipulating the type of services to be provided by the physician or physician group.  A decision to enter into a service contract with the Health Authority is made on an annual basis. 

SESSIONAL CONTRACTS
Sessional contracts are primarily a time-based form of compensation intended for part time physician service.  These contracts provide flexibility for management of complex or time-consuming patient care by allowing physicians to bill for the actual time spent with, or on behalf of a patient, instead of the number of different services or treatments given.

There are over 100 sessional program allocations between VIHA and the Ministry of Health Services (Alternative Payment Program).  Each fiscal year, based on allocations reviewed and approved by senior program managers, VIHA enters into Sessional Contracts with physicians for sessional services. Payments to physicians:

• Are made on submission of Certificate of Service forms completed by the physician and approved by the appropriate VIHA manager using the sessions online system, and
• Do not exceed the approved sessional program allocation.

• Certificates of Service must be submitted to our office within 30 days of service.

A session is a unit of physician time comprising 3.5 hours of service. Partial sessions or time intervals of less than 3.5 hours worked within the same day are accumulated to the nearest full quarter hour.

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DOCTOR OF THE DAY CONTRACTS
This provincial program was established by a Memorandum of Agreement between the British Columbia Medical Association and the Government of British Columbia.  Health Authorities issue contracts to approved Doctor of the Day groups.  The group contact submits the on-call schedule at the end of each month to Physician Compensation for payment.

The purpose of Doctor of the Day program is to:

• Provide the medical care required by orphaned patients, including admission to hospital and necessary physician care while in hospital.
• Ensure that general practitioners (GPs) providing doctor of the day coverage are compensated at the agreed rate for being available to provide this service.

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