Finding a Family Physician
Monarch can help you look for a family physician if you do not have one. Some physicians who work with or advise Monarch may independently provide MSP-insured medical services through their own medical practices. Those services are separate from Monarch Health.
Monarch Health is not a primary care practice, and it does not provide or bill MSP-insured services. Some physicians who work with or advise Monarch may independently provide MSP-insured medical services through their own medical practices, and they look after their own patients as well. Those services are separate from Monarch Health and are not included in a Monarch membership. If you do not have a family physician, we can help you look: by pointing you to the province’s Health Connect Registry and, where appropriate, by introducing you to physicians who are accepting new patients. It matters because, with your consent, we share your results and recommendations with your family physician, so your insured care and your plan stay connected.
How we can help
Help finding a physician
If you do not have a family physician, tell us and we will help you look. We can point you to the province’s Health Connect Registry and, where appropriate, introduce you to physicians who are accepting new patients.
Physicians with their own practices
Physicians who work with Monarch may look after their own patients in their own medical practices. Those practices are separate from Monarch Health.
Sharing with your consent
Once you have a family physician, we share your results and recommendations with them, and only with your consent.
Working alongside them
Monarch works alongside your family physician. We add the uninsured work, and we never take the place of their care.
What this is not
- Monarch does not provide or bill MSP-insured services. Care from your family physician is delivered and billed through their own practice.
- A Monarch membership does not buy, extend or speed up your access to a family physician, to MSP-covered investigations, or to specialist referrals.
- We can help you look and, where appropriate, introduce you, but we cannot promise a place. Each physician decides whether they can take on a new patient, and being a Monarch member does not give anyone priority.
- This is not a walk-in or urgent care service and it does not replace emergency care. For urgent advice call 8-1-1; in an emergency, call 9-1-1 or attend an emergency department.
How it is paid for
Insured care is paid for by the province, through your physician's own practice.
Insured care from your family physician is billed to the BC Medical Services Plan through their practice, and no Monarch membership is required to receive it. Monarch does not bill MSP. Where you are also a Monarch Health member, the uninsured components of that membership (assessment depth beyond what MSP covers, planning, coordination and ongoing monitoring) are separate from your insured care.
What a membership does cover
The uninsured work - the depth of assessment, the plan, the coordination and the monitoring between appointments. It sits alongside insured care and never in place of it.
How memberships work