The OPA process applies to facilities that are approved to provide fee-for-service outpatient laboratory testing. It facilitates the payment of the fee-for-service claims.

The Laboratory Services Act establishes a relationship between the Minister of Health and operators of approved laboratory facilities. (Operators are defined as the owner, the person with responsibility for daily operations of the lab facility, or a regional health board or prescribed agency.) Every claim submitted through Teleplan to Health Insurance BC (HIBC) must be associated with a valid medical services plan practitioner number.

For billing purposes only, under the OPA process, each facility designates one or more laboratory physicians to link his/her MSP practitioner number to the facility using the OPA form. The form must be completed by both the operator (or authorized representative of the operator) and the designated laboratory physician. The form is submitted to the Ministry through the secure upload tool. OPAs are in effect for up to four years, after which a renewal is required.

The OPA User Guide provides an overview of the laboratory operator payment administration process and tips for completing an OPA form.

Please submit the form via the secure upload tool. 

(As of July 1, 2020, the new upload tool works best with the latest version of Google Chrome. Please update your bookmarks.)