In British Columbia, laboratory services are provided in approved laboratory facilities in community and hospital settings under the Laboratory Services Act.
Effective April 1, 2019, BC’s Agency for Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is responsible for processing requests for approval of laboratory facilities, specimen collection stations, and related services. Please direct inquiries to labfacilities@phsa.ca.
Since October 1, 2015, BC laboratory services are administered under the Laboratory Services Act (LSA) and its regulations. Before this
- The Medicare Protection Act (MPA) governed facilities providing laboratory services for outpatient services (through fee-for-service).
- The Hospital Insurance Act (HIA) governed globally funded laboratory services.
The LSA defines a laboratory facility as part of a hospital that provides laboratory services, or a specimen collection station that is associated with a hospital or facility. Under the LSA, the Minister of Health has the authority to approve facilities and specimen collection stations to provide laboratory services, adhering to the principle of facilitating reasonable access to medically necessary laboratory services for registered beneficiaries throughout BC. The Ministry of Health issues the Laboratory Services Outpatient Payment Schedule under the LSA for reimbursement to operators of approved laboratory facilities and specimen collection stations (effective October 1, 2015).
When the LSA came into force, the Ministry of Health classified existing laboratories as “grand-parented” under the LSA and these laboratories continued to provide laboratory services to patients enrolled as beneficiaries under the MPA. These “grand-parented” facilities include
- laboratory facilities previously associated with a hospital as defined by Section 1 of the HIA
- diagnostic facilities that previously provided laboratory services under the MPA
- specimen collection stations associated with either a hospital or diagnostic facility
- facilities that are funded, managed, or operated by a prescribed agency (BC Cancer, BC Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s and Women’s Health Centres, and Provincial Health Services Authority)
Email labfacilities@phsa.ca.
