Provincial Attachment System: What it is and why it matters
The Provincial Attachment System is a provincial program delivered by the Ministry of Health, designed in partnership with Nurse and Nurse Practitioners of BC and Doctors of BC. The program was designed to facilitate attachment for patients across B.C., inform longitudinal primary care provider compensation, and inform primary care health system planning. For the first time, we have a complete picture of all primary care clinics and capacity in B.C., and together we are attaching more patients than ever before.
Nurse practitioners providing longitudinal primary care across all models of compensation are expected to integrate the PAS into their clinic operations.
B.C.'s Provincial Attachment System
The Provincial Attachment System (PAS) is composed of three registries that are dynamically integrated into a secure Attachment Interface where attachment coordinators in every Primary Care Network community in B.C. match HCR registrants with providers who have identified capacity to attach new patients.
- On the Health Connect Registry (HCR), offered by HealthLinkBC, patients can register their interest in attachment to a primary care provider (a nurse practitioner or family doctor) in their community. Registration is available for an individual, their family, or a person in their care. Visit HealthLinkBC | Health Connect Registry for more information.
- Through the Panel Registry (PR), longitudinal nurse practitioners and family doctors (or their MOAs or Clinic Managers) can manage their PAS patient panels and indicate their capacity for attaching new patients - both to a maximum panel size that they are looking to achieve overall, and the number of new patients they may be able to accept at a given time. In the PR, providers can digitally review and select patients from the HCR for attachment. PAS patient panel information is also used to identify the Most Responsible Provider for attached patients throughout B.C.
- The Clinic and Provider Registry (CPR), which is accessible through the Panel Registry, is where nurse practitioners, family doctors, and clinic directors (or their MOAs and clinic managers) can maintain information about their primary care clinic including address, operating hours, types of care provided, and physician and clinical staff working there. Information from this registry provides a big picture of the primary care services available in a community and is used to identify care gaps and support future planning.
How Nurse Practitioners Should Use PAS
The Ministry of Health has developed detailed guidelines for how NPs build PAS into their clinic workflows, attach or transfer patients, identify the Most Responsible Provider and more.
About PAS Reimbursement
Nurse practitioners (NPs) employed by a British Columbia Health Authority and participating in the Provincial Attachment System (PAS) may be eligible for incentive payments. Additional information about eligibility and reimbursement is available here.