In the News

Updated June 4, 2020

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has established an Advance Payment Program to provide payments to physicians to address cash flow issues that may arise during the COVID-19 outbreak. The intention of the advance is to provide physicians with monthly, interest-free, automated advance payments that will be set off against future OHIP earnings.  

Payment Details:

  • Eligible physicians will receive payments in May, June, and July 2020
  • All eligible physicians will be automatically topped up to 70% of this monthly average
  • Payments are calculated based on the previous 12 months (April 01, 2019 to March 31, 2020) of billings to determine a monthly average
  • IMPORTANT: the MOH will automatically flow an advance to all eligible physicians.  It is the responsibility of the physician to opt out of the program.

Repayment Details: 

  • The advance will be repaid in five (5) equal installments from November 2020 until March 2021
  • The advance repayment will be taken from monthly fee-for-service (FFS) earnings  
  • Most SEAMO-funded physicians have nominal FFS billings, so we anticipate there will be insufficient funds to cover most of the advance repayments.  The MOH has advised SEAMO that the Government will reach out to these physicians to discuss alternate repayment arrangements

Issues with May Payment – some physicians experienced the following:

I expected a payment but didn’t receive on in my personal bank account

Please check with the MOH Service Support Contact Centre.  Either the banking information on file is outdated or there is no banking information on file for you.   

I received a payment but wasn’t expecting an advance

The COVID-19 Advance Payment only appears on a physician’s solo (0000) Remittance Advice (RA).  SEAMO assumed, incorrectly, that we had access to solo RA information for all SEAMO-funded physicians.   Please check your solo RA to confirm the amount of the deposit. 

The bank deposit differs from the Advance Payment information I received from SEAMO

Physicians received a single deposit from the MOH in their bank account on May14th.  This could have included for other services (i.e. FFS billings, out-of-province claims, WSIB payments, etc.).

Please refer to solo (0000) RA for details regarding the deposit.

Opt-Out Instructions:

While it’s too late to opt-out of May and June 2020 advance payment, physicians can still opt-out of the July payment by contacting the MOH Service Support Contact Centre:

Returning Advance Payments:

  • Make cheques payable to the Minister of Finance
  • Submit cheque(s) to: 
    Ministry of Health, Financial Management Branch
    49 Place d’Armes, 3rd Floor Kingston, ON K7L5J3
  • Include cover letter with the following information:
    • Full Name
    • OHIP Billing Number
    • Indicate cheque is for repayment of COVID-19 Advance Payment Program
    • Specify the month of the Advance Payment

IMPORTANT – check with your department:

Please check with your Department regarding the management of Advance Payments.  Each practice plan is developing their own rules regarding these monies.

Additional Resources:

Finally, SEAMO is working hard to better understand the Program and how it will affect both our SEAMO-funded and fee-for-service physicians. If you require additional information regarding the COVID-19 Advance Payment Program, please reach out to us.  We are here to help.