One of the two fundamental components of the service plan is the proposed financial plan for the PCN. To correctly complete the templates, the PCN planning team needs to apply PCIC financial policies (available in the latest Policy Manual) and understand the types of operational funds the PCN will be receiving or be eligible for once the Business Plan is approved by PCIC.
The primary source of operational funds for PCNs are per capita payments issued for the date when the PCN is approved to become operational and then regularly on a semi-annual basis in April and October. Payments are prospective for the months remaining until the next semi-annual payment. The per capita payments are determined on the basis of informal enrollment lists of patients assigned to each participating physician. For this reason, PCN planners are encouraged to request three Business Planning reports of this data from Alberta Health & Wellness throughout the Business Plan Development process. The first report should be requested in the project planning phase based upon the physicians who signed the Letter of Intent. Often during service delivery planning, additional physicians will indicate an intent to participate in the PCN. Therefore a second BP development report should be requested before submitting a draft business plan to PCI PMO to ensure the contents of section 4.0 closely matches the funding the PCN is eligible to receive under per capita payments. The third and final Business Plan report should be requested from AHW before submission of the final draft Business Plan to PCI Program Management Office.
Guidelines for Use of Per Capita Funding Use these Guidelines when determining the Service delivery plan (Section 3.0) to ensure planned initiatives are consistent with the guidelines followed by PCI PMO in reviewing a service plan.
The Specialist Linkages Funding program expired March 31, 2011. PCNs are able to submit related expenses incurred up to March 31, 2011 to AHW for reimbursement prior to June 30, 2011. PCNs that have previously been approved by the PCI Committee for a specialist linkages grant may use their per capita funding to continue the services. Payment to physicians for specialist services must comply with existing PCI policies. PCNs that wish to introduce new specialist linkage initiatives must document the proposal and obtain approval following the Business Plan Amendment process.
Capacity Building grants were available only to PCNs approved during rounds 1,2, and 3 calls for Letters of Intent. These grants had a two year time limit and were developed in anticipation of a need for PCNs to have additional funding sources due to higher costs in getting established. Experience indicated that most PCNs took 12-18 months to truly become operational so PCIC have now discontinued this grants to any PCN applying in Round 4 onwards. There are only a few PCNs in rounds 2 and 3 that are still eligible to apply for these grants.
Capacity Building Grants Guidelines and Application Use of this is restricted to a few PCNs still eligible under the Round 2 and 3 calls for Letter of Intent. No PCNs applying as part of Round 4 or future Rounds for Letters of Intent may apply.
Four Cut Funding Methodology Physician Registration and Movement PCNs and Nurse Practitioners - Just the Facts Pediatrics - Just the Facts