Care of the Elderly Tariffs
Three new tariffs are available as of April 1, 2024 to recognize the ongoing care provided by family physicians with training in Care of the Elderly (COE). The new tariffs also ensure that COE physicians have the same tariffs as their Geriatrician colleagues when providing similar specialty services.
The new COE tariffs:
- Establish an extended Geriatric Consultation (COE) tariff 8658 to complement the base consultation under tariff 8617,
- Create a new tariff for Interpretation of Comprehensive Cognitive Assessment Results with tariff 8656, and
- Establish a care of the elderly Geriatric Specialty Support tariff payable in fifteen-minute increments under tariff 8657.
The new tariffs along with the descriptions and rates are listed below.
8656
Interpretation of comprehensive cognitive assessment results (minimum half hour of physician time) and reporting to referring physician. May be claimed in addition to a visit tariff.
$104.05
8657
Care of the Elderly (COE) Geriatric Specialty Support–initiated by an allied health professional or another physician requesting advice regarding a complex or comorbid geriatric condition, which is provided by the COE physician on a priority basis within twelve (12) hours by telephone for a patient under geriatric care, per fifteen (15) minutes or major portion thereof, maximum of thirty (30) minutes.
$36.88
- The Care of the Elderly physician must document the service, including the time when the advice was requested, and the time the call was made.
- A maximum of seventy-five (75) minutes are claimable per patient per week.
- Tariffs 8000 and 8001 may not be claimed for the same patient during the same day as tariff 8657.
8658
Extended Care of the Elderly (COE) Consultation—(including requests by Geriatric Program Assessment Team GPAT)—See Rules 7 to 10–minimum of forty-five (45) minutes of patient/physician contact time.
$271.09
Patient/physician contact time must be documented with start and stop times on the patient’s record. Patient/physician contact time is defined as time the physician spends directly in the presence of the patient for the purposes of examination, discussion and/or explanation.
It does not include time spent reviewing records or tests, or arranging for further services or communication with others, either in writing or by telephone. Time spent performing procedures for which another tariff is claimable may not be counted towards contact time for the purposes of an extended visit.
General Note: Tariffs 8656, 8657, and 8658 shall be limited to physicians with a certificate in Care of the Elderly or physicians approved by the Provincial CMO or Designate.
COE physicians are also reminded of other tariff amendments arising from the new PSA including enhanced communication tariffs, the extended visit tariff, mature women’s health assessment tariff as well as the Inter-Facility transfer tariff.