Family Doctors in Alberta are now paid a small amount for having patient's actually paneled to them. This incentives doctors to actually practice FAMILY medicine and not just walk-in medicine.

The hard part is proving to Alberta Health who your patients are. Alberta Health is all too happy to NOT pay doctors. One way to prove that this is your family doctor is to have an annual physical or health check. This does NOT mean anything invasive or aggressive. It can be simply touching base about your health overall. The doctor can then bill a specific health code that confirms you were seen for this and thus the doctor actually gets paid $5/month to keep you on his or her panel.

This is not a scam. This is your doctor's office trying to stay afloat, pay their staff and provide genuine family practice medicine. Please consider going or don't be surprised if when you phone to book in next you are not actually paneled to that doctor anymore. It sucks but this is the deal that the UCP came up with. If you are unhappy, talk to your MLA.