Important Notice to Patients

Dear Bear Street Clinic Patients,

Bear Street Family Physicians Clinic has always based our practice around the “Patient's Medical Home” model. As your Medical Home we are focused on offering the care you need, in your community, when you need it.  Ensuring accessibility to care with your primary care team remains our top priority.  

Bear Street Family Physicians Clinic has entered into a new team based model with Alberta Health called a Blended Capitation Model (BCM).  This model allows for patients to see a variety of health professionals within our office, which allows us to spend more time in a visit managing health and wellness proactively.  These healthcare providers include doctors, our physician assistant or our nurse. We hope to add to our team with other health professionals, such as a nurse practitioner and mental health worker.  A great benefit of this model is that we can expand our care team and improve our availability.  Our care delivery is based on health teams working together to provide thorough, consistent and comprehensive patient-centered care. 

One of the requirements of this new model is to clearly identify who are patients of our clinic. This is done by having each patient sign an affiliation form.  By signing this form you will be attached to Bear Street Clinic and agree to contact us first for your medical needs (before going to a walk-in clinic).  This also means that if you access primary care elsewhere (i.e. a walk-in clinic) we are notified, and this pulls funds and resources away from your Medical Home. Every possible opportunity to provide care for you at the Bear Street Clinic will be made available to ensure you can be seen as needed.   We recognize that urgent needs will arise and, as always, Emergency Room visits remain available to you. 

Thank you for choosing Bear Street Clinic to be your Medical Home. We look forward to continuing to provide exceptional care for you and your family. If you have any questions, please visit the FAQ section, or you may always schedule an appointment with your family doctor.

Sincerely, 

Your Bear Street Family Physicians Clinic Team

For more information on the Blended Capitation Model, please visit one of the websites listed below:

Government of Alberta - Blended Capitation Overview Calgary Herald Opinion Piece on BCM