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Patient Panel Upload FAQs
Laura avatar
Written by Laura
Updated over a week ago

Is there a cost to submitting my panel with Dr. Bill?

No. The panel upload service is complimentary. You will not be prompted to provide any payment information.

How do I access the patient panel upload service?

Sign up for Dr.Bill to access the patient panel submission service. You will be asked to:

  1. Accept our terms and conditions

  2. Verify your email address

  3. Select your billing province.

Once you choose British Columbia, you will see a checkbox that says, "I am signing up for Dr.Bill to upload my patient panel to MSP." Check this box to continue to the panel submission service (vs. our billing solution).

How secure is the panel submission service?

Dr.Bill takes the privacy of patients and providers very seriously. Only employees who require access to health information to facilitate the patient panel submission services can access the patient information collected. Dr.Bill has strict privacy policies and uses secure bank-grade encryption to protect patient and provider information. All patient health information is encrypted and stored on private and secure RBC-owned servers and stored for the length of time required by provincial and federal law.

What if I have more than one facility number?

If you have more than one facility number, please contact HealthBCSupport@phsa.ca before signing up for Dr.Bill. The Provincial Health Services Authority must provide you with additional details to ensure accurate panel uploads.

How should my patient panel be formatted?

Create a file of your empanelled patient data in .csv, .xls or .xlsx format (must be 2mbs or less in size).

Your file should contain the following information in this column order from left to right: first name, last name, PHN, DoB. (Please ensure the patient DoB is formatted YYYY-MM-DD.)

Need help? Refer to our sample patient panel spreadsheet.

How can I get help creating a file of my empanelled patient data from my EMR?

There are a number of resources located on the Doctors of BC website here, including Report By Templates and how to use them. If you require additional support, please submit a service request here to get connected to the Practice Support Program.

How do I fix an "invalid patient" following my panel upload?

An “invalid patient” error simply means there is likely a formatting or data entry error (such as a PHN that doesn’t follow the expected format). Each “invalid patient” will have an associated reason to make corrections easy. You can correct these errors by editing patient information right in Dr.Bill. Or, if most of your patients appear invalid, you may have a larger file error (such as incorrect column order). In these cases, you can correct the information in your original file and re-import the updated document.

Are most of your patients invalid? Check to ensure your original file was formatted in this column order from left to right: first name, last name, PHN, Date of Birth.

Tried all of the above and still encountering invalid patients? Use the chat feature in Dr.Bill and we will be happy to assist you.

Do I need every patient to be “valid” before MSP submission?

While you don’t have to correct every invalid patient error, it is important to ensure you are submitting an accurate list of empanelled patients. Only patients marked as “valid” are submitted to MSP. Patients marked as “invalid” are NOT submitted and will therefore not be part of your patient panel submission. If you have questions about who to include on your list of empanelled patients, please contact HealthBCSupport@phsa.ca.

Can I import/submit multiple files?

You may only import a single file of your patient panel, so please ensure your file contains a complete and consolidated list of all your empanelled patients.

If you have more than one facility number, please contact HealthBCSupport@phsa.ca before signing up for Dr.Bill. The Provincial Health Services Authority must provide you with additional details to ensure accurate panel uploads.

When can I expect a panel acceptance confirmation from MSP?

Once you submit your panel, we will provide you with an estimate of when to expect a response from MSP based on the current volume of panels being submitted. You will receive an email once your panel has been reviewed by MSP so you can log back into Dr.Bill to view the details of MSP’s response. If MSP has rejected any of the patients on your panel, you will have the opportunity to correct any errors and resubmit those patients.

MSP rejected some of the patients on my panel. How can I fix them?

If MSP rejects any of the patients on your panel, you will see these under a “rejected” tab. Each rejected patient will be accompanied by a reason (e.g. patient and PHN do not match).

To correct rejections from MSP, you can edit the patient information right in Dr.Bill and re-submit these edited patients to MSP.

If you have questions about who to include on your list of empanelled patients, please contact HealthBCSupport@phsa.ca.

How are panel size and complexity payments calculated for the LFP payment model?

If you are on the Longitudinal Family Physician payment model, please refer to the LFP Payment Model section of the Doctors of BC website here for an overview of how the panel payments are calculated.

Now that my empanelled are in Dr.Bill, can I use your billing service?

Absolutely! Billing is fast and easy with Dr.Bill. Simply click to chat with us when you’re logged into your panel or contact us anytime at hello@dr-bill.ca. (Ask us about our $150 signup credit and preferred rates for RBC clients!)

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