Category 1

• Category 1 physician groups consist of a minimum of three active staff physicians and are required to provide 24/7 on-call coverage 365 days per year (100% coverage).
• A written on-call schedule must be provided.
• The on-call physician must respond by telephone within 10 minutes and be able to be on site within 20 minutes.
• The physicians are frequently called into the facility after hours, at least 25% of the days covered.
• The payment rate for this service is $350 per Monday to Thursday, and $500 per Friday to Sunday and statutory holiday.

Category 2

• Category 2 physician groups provide value to the system by being on-call, but are unable to provide 24/7 coverage 365 days per year. Since the service isn’t always available and doesn’t provide consistent access to care, the remuneration rate is less than for Category 1.
• These physicians must provide a written on-call schedule that, at a minimum, provides the DHA with one-in-four coverage on average per year, and at a maximum provides one-in-three coverage on average by any one physician per quarter.
• The on-call physician must respond by phone within 10 minutes and be able to be on site within 20 minutes. The physician must be called into the facility a minimum of 25% of the days covered.
• The payment rate for this service is $300 per Monday to Thursday, and $350 per Friday to Sunday and statutory holiday.

Category 3

• A Category 3 physician group is required to provide 24/7 coverage, 365 days per year (100% coverage) and must respond within 10 minutes by phone and be able to be on site within 20 minutes if called in. 
• This category includes physicians who are providing a vital service but are infrequently required to return to the hospital. They aren’t required to be on site, however if they are asked to occasionally come to the hospital, they will receive a one-time call-back payment for after hours (evening/night, weekend or holiday) callbacks. A call-back payment can only be claimed once per 24 hours. 
• The payment rate for this service is $200 per Monday to Thursday, and $250 per Friday to Sunday and statutory holiday. The call-back payment is an additional $150.

Category 4

• Category 4 applies to any physician who isn’t on call but receives an urgent request to come to the hospital after hours (evenings/nights, weekends or holidays) and goes in.
• The physician will receive a call-back payment of $350.
• Documentation of the reason for the call-back is required. All documentation must be completed and submitted before the call-back will be paid.
• This funding is for emergency care and isn’t intended to provide for covering a physician’s on-going care of his/her patients. This call-back payment is payable only to physicians whose specialty or subspecialty doesn’t have a designated on-call rota. 
• A call-back payment can only be claimed once per 24 hours.