Confirm your family doctor or nurse practitioner

Confirm your family doctor or nurse practitioner

Last updated

Let us know which family doctor or nurse practitioner is your primary healthcare provider. 

Confirm your primary care provider

If more than one family doctor or nurse practitioner told the Ministry of Health that they are your regular family doctor or nurse practitioner, we need you to confirm who is your primary provider. Your regular primary care provider is the person you see routinely for your everyday healthcare needs.

Please confirm who you consider to be your regular primary care provider.

To confirm who your regular family doctor or nurse practitioner is, you can either use the online portal or call HealthLink BC at 8-1-1.

You will need to provide your Personal Health Number (PHN), found on your BC Services Card or B.C. Driver’s License.

Confirm you primary care provider

You only need to complete this process if your family doctor or nurse practitioner has asked you to.

There may only be one family doctor or nurse practitioner listed for you. You can still complete this process if you choose to.

Confirming your family doctor or nurse practitioner can help more people in your community get access to the healthcare services they need in your community. 


Why you are being asked to do this

The Ministry of Health introduced the Provincial Attachment System to make it easier for people in B.C. to get a family doctor or nurse practitioner. 

Within the system, some people appear on the patient lists of more than one primary care provider. This could happen for different reasons, for example:

  • You might appear on a provider’s patient list if you’ve received care from them at a walk-in clinic
  • A family doctor or nurse practitioner that you used to see regularly may not have removed you from their patient list after you moved away

Removing yourself from the patient lists of family doctors or nurse practitioners who you rarely or never see can open space for another person in your community to get a regular family doctor or nurse practitioner. 

You only need to complete this process if your family doctor or nurse practitioner has asked you to.

If you are currently registered on the Health Connect Registry, completing this process will not remove you from the Health Connect Registry or affect your spot on the waitlist. 

This includes people who already have a family doctor or nurse practitioner and are registered on the Health Connect Registry because they want a different provider, have moved or because their family doctor or nurse practitioner is retiring.


What happens next

Once you confirm your regular family doctor or nurse practitioner, you can continue to receive your ongoing, everyday healthcare from them. There is no further action needed from you.

Only the family doctors and nurse practitioners listed for you will be informed of your selection, and only so that they can either:  

  • Confirm you as their patient if you selected them as your primary care provider
  • Remove you from their patient list if you didn’t select them as your primary care provider

Accessing health services

Even if you have a regular family doctor or nurse practitioner there may be times when you need to get healthcare services from other people or places. 

After confirming your regular family doctor or nurse practitioner, you can still access care from healthcare clinics or facilities in B.C. This may include seeing other family doctors, specialist doctors, nurse practitioners or healthcare professionals in other settings like an Urgent and Primary Care Centre or a walk-in clinic. 

Find primary care services available in your community

If you do not have a regular family doctor or nurse practitioner, or would like a different one, you can register for the Health Connect Registry to be connected to a family doctor or nurse practitioner in your community. 


I need help

Contact us if you have questions or concerns.

Call 8-1-1 Seven days a week, 24 hours a day | Translators are available in 130 languages

A health service navigator will help you find the information you are looking for or transfer you to someone to help complete the confirmation process. 

Deaf and hard of hearing

For the deaf and hard of hearing (TTY), call 7-1-1. For Video Relay Services, have them call us at 604-215-5101.

Web-enabled phone services

If using web-enable phone services like Skype or Google Talk, dial 604-215-8110.