Medical On-Call Availability Program

The Medical On-Call / Availability program (MOCAP), defined by the Physician Master Agreement, is a  provincial program providing compensation to physicians participating in sustainable on-call rotations intended to address gaps in continuous coverage for new and unattached patients requiring emergency care.

MOCAP was redesigned effective April 1, 2019 by the Provincial MOCAP Review Committee (PMRC) to base call group payment levels on the overall burden associated with being on-call by Line of Service, rather than by a response time requirement. The physician burden is measured by call volumes, patient attendance, acuity, rurality, and availability at multiple sites.

MOCAP Call Group

To establish a MOCAP call group, there must be a minimum of three physicians to participate. This is to keep the MOCAP arrangement sustainable and to avoid physician burnout. Currently, MOCAP has 53 Lines of Service, with over 800 call groups across the six regional health authorities.

MOCAP Goals:

• To meet the medical needs of new or unattached patients requiring emergency care by providing continuous on-call coverage (as determined by the health authorities) at acute care hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, and specified emergency treatment rooms; 
• To compensate for the associated physician burden of being on-call (not for actual clinical services rendered);  
• To meet standards of care as a minimum requirement of response to emergency on-call; 
• To ensure that physicians providing on-call coverage as part of an established call rotation (or physician group) are compensated for being available to provide this service; 
• To ensure on-call coverage translates into a sustainable workload for participating physicians; and
• To address gaps in continuous, sustainable on-call coverage with innovative, workable solutions that are consistent with program requirements.  ​

Physician Eligibility 

To participate in a MOCAP contract, physicians must have the following: 

• Registered, in good standing with, and licensed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC), in accordance with the Health Professions Act; 
• Enrolled as a practitioner with the Medical Services Plan (MSP) and hold a valid practitioner number, in accordance with the Medicare Protection Act; and
• Able to provide evidence of insurance under the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) or be otherwise adequately insured against acts of negligence and malpractice.  ​

Compensation Levels 

MOCAP compensation levels are assigned based on the 2019 physician burden model. The annual rates for MOCAP availability are as follows:

• Level 1 - $247,500 per call group.
• Level 2 - $181,500 per call group. 
• Level 3 - $77,000 per call group. 
• On Site On-Call - $357,500 per call group. (This category is predominately intended for high-volume tertiary (high risk) obstetrics, anesthesia, and neonatology.) 
• Call Backs - $250 per call. (Where a physician is not on-call but is called in by the health authority to provide a service.) 
• Doctor of the Day (DOD) - DOD physician groups are paid $400 per day for 24 hours of coverage, to a maximum group contracted value of $146,000. (Where a Family Practitioner (FP) is designated by a health authority to be available for the care of unattached patients admitted to hospital where the patient does not have a FP or has a FP who does not have hospital privileges at that hospital.) ​

In addition to annual rates above, on-call physicians bill separate compensation models (e.g., such as Fee for Service, or alternate payment arrangements, etc.) through the MSP for those eligible clinical services rendered to patients. 

Funding 

The Ministry of Health provides funding to health authorities to compensate physicians or groups of physicians for providing on-call coverage. It is the health authority’s responsibility to manage MOCAP contracts and program operations (ie: contract administration, payment, scheduling, and reporting). Physicians are expected to provide MOCAP availability coverage in accordance with the provisions of the template MOCAP Contract attached as Schedule 1 to Appendix G of the Physician Master Agreement.

Each health authority is required to form a MOCAP Contract Review Committee (MCRC) to review the annual distribution plan of the health authority’s MOCAP budget. This Committee includes representatives of the health authority, health authority medical advisory committee (HAMAC) (or equivalent), physicians receiving MOCAP and emergency medicine physicians in the health authority. The MOCAP distribution plan is then submitted to the Ministry of Health for approval and funding.

Additional Information 

If you wish to participate in a MOCAP call group, contact the health authority in your region. Please see the links for documents related to MOCAP compensation and policy. 

Please see the links in the sidebar for documents related to MOCAP redesign and implementation.