The New Brunswick Medical Society’s (NBMS) Practice Support Program supports New Brunswick physicians and their teams in making changes to optimize their current processes and create more effective, healthier practices. This includes tailored support and programming to help physicians enhance processes within their clinics, creating a better provider and patient experience and ultimately improving the quality of patient care.
How does the NBMS assist practices with optimization?
The NBMS employs a multi-pronged approach to support practices. This comprehensive approach empowers practices to achieve measurable improvements that benefit patients and teams alike. We provide:
Dedicated practice facilitators to offer hands-on coaching and support when making these changes;
Educational programs such as the certified Group Learning Collaborative called the Patient’s Medical Home Expedition, where participants learn how to implement strategies to make meaningful improvements;
Expert consultations on questions related to EMR usage, technology and available business supports.
The Pathway to Practice offers a structured checklist that breaks down the essential steps involved for all physicians starting to practice and for those who are launching a new medical practice in New Brunswick. The purpose of this resource is to provide a visual guide that outlines key milestones and action items designed to support physicians and ensure nothing critical is overlooked along the way.
There are a multitude of considerations when starting a new practice and opening a medical clinic. NBMS Practice Support is here to help you navigate this process with tips on creating an effective business plan, how to determine overhead costs, understanding financial ratios, and the benefits of incorporating your practice, as well as many other dos and don’ts related to this crucial part of opening an office.
A skilled and supportive team is crucial for ensuring your clinic operates efficiently and smoothly. Whether you need to recruit talented individuals, train new employees or manage and develop existing staff effectively, NBMS Practice Support is here to guide you.
Recruitment
From writing an appropriate job description and advertising a position, to interviewing candidates and preparing a job offer, these resources will help guide you through all stages of the recruitment process and help make sure you find the correct fit for your office.
Onboarding is an important consideration as it sets the foundation for new employees’ success and integration into the team. A thoughtful onboarding program ensures that staff understand clinic policies, workflows, and their specific roles, leading to improved efficiency and patient care. These resources can help ensure your onboarding process fosters a positive work environment by building confidence, aligning expectations, and reducing turnover, ultimately contributing to the clinic’s long-term success.
Continuous development and evaluation is key to an employee’s success and their ability to contribute to an effective team dynamic. Tips on managing probation periods, providing ongoing feedback, performance management and the importance of continuous education, learning and training can be found here.
Offboarding an employee is an important process consisting of all the decisions and procedures to be considered when an employee leaves their employment. These steps lead to the formal separation between an employee and a company through resignation, termination, or retirement. NBMS Practice Support has compiled these resources to help answer any questions you may have about this process and ensure offboarding in your clinic goes smoothly.
Clinic operations are guided by comprehensive frameworks designed to minimize service disruptions and support consistent, high-quality patient care. Clear guidelines and standardization help clinic staff maintain best practices and ensure smooth day-to-day functioning. These guidelines are designed to be easily customized to fit the unique needs of your clinic.
Maximizing and refining the use of information technologies (IT) can make your clinic run more smoothly, securely, and efficiently. NBMS Practice Support has provided these references to assist you in adopting and/or enhancing your use of various IT tools, such as AI Scribe software, scheduling systems, and more.
The AI Scribe resource section is designed to help physicians and clinic staff explore and adopt AI-powered documentation tools. As this resource evolves, training materials and best practices will be added on an ongoing basis to help ensure AI Scribe solutions enhance clinical efficiency, accuracy, and patient care.
This initiative is part of NBMS’s commitment to digital health innovation, made possible through a generous $1M Health Care Unburdened Grant. This grant program is part of the Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank’s long-standing, joint commitment to supporting physicians and the communities they serve across Canada. With this support, NBMS is helping to bring practical, time-saving technology into clinical settings across New Brunswick.
The EMR Hub is a centralized platform dedicated to supporting physicians and staff in the effective use of electronic medical records. Currently, the Hub provides access to training documents and foundational resources. As we continue to enhance this platform, additional tools, updates, and best practices will be made available to further support clinical excellence and operational efficiency.
This initiative is part of NBMS’s commitment to digital health innovation, made possible through a generous $1M Health Care Unburdened Grant. This grant program is part of the Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank’s long-standing, joint commitment to supporting physicians and the communities they serve across Canada. With this support, NBMS is helping to bring practical, time-saving technology into clinical settings across New Brunswick.
The Change Packages are designed to help members improve specific aspects of their practice, at their own pace, without having to commit to a more extensive program such as the Health Home Essentials. They are available for physicians to use self-directed or with the guidance and support of one of our Practice Facilitators.
Create a Healthy Practice
The “Create a Healthy Practice” change package supports New Brunswick Primary Care and Collaborative Family Practice Teams by describing evidence-based changes and practical tools to support clinic teams, strengthen individual team members’ agency and purpose, and establish strong foundations for a Healthy Practice.
If you have any questions or are looking for additional guidance to apply these strategies in your practice, please email Practice Support at practicesupport@nbms.nb.ca.
Having defined patient panels enables practices to address the needs of their patients in regards to relational continuity, timely access to care, and quality of care while optimizing team capacity.
This resource provides guidance and tools to help clinics:
Identify accurate patient panel lists
Improve relational continuity by fostering accessible, longitudinal relationships with patients
Arrange the interprofessional team and primary provider to meet the needs of the patient panel in a shared way
If you have any questions or are looking for additional guidance to apply these strategies in your practice, please email Practice Support at practicesupport@nbms.nb.ca.
Providing timely access to care and ensuring continuity with a trusted primary care team are core elements of the Health Home model, essential to achieving high-quality, patient-centred care.
This resource provides guidance and tools to help clinics:
Collect and track key access measures
Reduce patient demand for care
Proactively manage variations in demand and supply
If you have any questions or are looking for additional guidance to apply these strategies in your practice, please email Practice Support at practicesupport@nbms.nb.ca.
A high impact learning series for family physicians and health care teams
The NBMS Practice Support Program and the Health Innovation Group present Health Home Essentials*.
This condensed, in-person learning series supports family physicians and care teams in applying Health Home principles to improve access and clinic flow, foster teamwork, and enhance patient experience.
Through interactive sessions, peer-to-peer collaboration and expert-led instruction, participants will gain practical insights and actionable resources to strengthen care delivery in their clinics.
(*formerly called the NBMS Expedition Program)
At A Glance
Program Duration:Started November 2025
Credentials: Eligible for CPD credits
Program Delivery:
In-person learning
Three full day sessions
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Virtual sessions
1-hour kick-off session
Three 1-hour action period calls
Language:
Course delivered in English
Material available in both French and English
Target Audience:
This learning series is ideal for family physicians and multidisciplinary health care teams working in all primary care settings.
Information Webinar:
A live webinar was held on October 2, 2025 to learn more about the program. Click HERE to view the recording.
“We found the Expedition program quite helpful. The material was comprehensive, prompting us to approach improvement areas we previously had not considered. More importantly, the dedicated time to work together and regular check-ins moved us from a group who regularly thought about Quality Improvement to one performing QI. The most impactful aspect was the longitudinal guidance of an experienced QI facilitator, which was immensely helpful.” – Dr. Josh Tracey
“The Expedition program was very helpful in giving us tools to improve our clinic flow and efficiency. The NBMS practice facilitators were also amazing to work with through this process.” – Dr. Sophie Bourque
“This program has been practice changing for me. It gave our team the platform it needed to address issues of efficiency, team dynamics, and enhancing patient safety. This program taught me how to improve my access without compromising my work-life balance.” – Dr. Heidi Moore
“Working with the Health Innovation Group was a seamless and inspiring experience. Their team is knowledgeable, proactive, and truly committed to improving healthcare. I felt supported every step of the way. They took the time to understand our unique needs and provided innovative, practical solutions. The collaboration was smooth, efficient, and exceeded our expectations. I would gladly work with them again and highly recommend their services to others in the healthcare field.” – Yves Mazerolle
“For me, I think the greatest value I found in the program is that it really changed my way of thinking. It broadened my perspective and gave me tools to manage everything that isn’t directly related to medical expertise but that we deal with every day in our clinics. I had the chance to meet physicians from across the province who were also looking to improve their clinical management. I was able to build new connections and learn, especially about how others operate.” – Dr. Darren Martin
The NBMS Practice Support Program is collaborating with Medicare to offer a series of online billing information sessions.
Who can join?
Physicians and their staff who are new to billing or have limited billing experience in New Brunswick. Also suitable for those who would like a refresher.
Why attend?
Learn up-to-date information from the Medicare Practice Liaison
Discover essential billing resources to streamline your billing processes
Learn strategies and practical tips to submit your claims accurately and confidently
Ask general billing questions and get answers in real time (please note that case specific billing questions should be directed to Practitioner Enquiries)
Session 1: Introduction to Patient Registry and Panel Maintenance
Join the Medicare Practitioner Liaison and NBMS Practice Facilitators for an introduction to patient registry and panel maintenance in MCE. This session will demonstrate how to access MCE patient lists and compare them with your own patient records using Excel to validate patient panels and support accurate panel cleanup. Participants will gain the knowledge and practical skills needed to prepare for and complete the panel maintenance process.
This session will introduce shadow billing, review key admin codes for salaried practitioners, and share practical billing tips to help participants submit shadow billing codes effectively.
Medicare and NBMS staff will review essential updates to Internal Medicine subspecialty service codes and answer questions to help participants understand key changes.
Join our virtual New Brunswick Family Physician peer-to-peer network to connect with fellow physicians, share and exchange valuable insights on improving your practice, receive expert advice, and discuss what matters to you!
Why join the network?
Discuss, identify, and share practice challenges and get practical ideas on how to overcome them.
Engage in dialogue with New Brunswick physician leaders.
See how other physicians use improvement tools and resources to build capacity for change.
Learn practical tips and tricks from local physician champions on relevant topics to advance improvement in family medicine.
Hear about trusted resources from the group.
Who can join?
The Network is intended for New Brunswick family physicians who want to improve their practice and connect with peers on a similar path.
Who facilitates the Network?
The Networks are facilitated by the New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS) and their practice facilitators, who support the network and its participants.
When and how to access the virtual sessions?
Team-Based Primary Care in Action: Physician – Pharmacist Collaboration
Discover practical approaches to physician–pharmacist collaboration and broader team integration. Learn how one primary care team optimized roles, redesigned workflows, and moved beyond parallel practice to shared responsibility for patient care.
This October’s EMR Champions Lunch & Learn will focus on how to get the most out of your AI Scribe tool- whether you’re just getting started or looking to optimize your use.
We’ll explore how AI Scribes work, what to look for, and practical tips to make documentation faster, easier, and more accurate.
Session Details
Thursday, October 16, 2025, 12:15 pm | VIEW RECORDING
Presenter: Dr. Wendy Stewart
Please note that this session will be available in English only.
Who should attend?
Open to Physicians, NPs, RNs, LPNs, and MOAs—these sessions offer practical tips, peer insights, and tools to help improve everyday clinical workflows.
The NBMS offers a workshop entitled “Your Life after Retirement” that addresses the “softer side” of retirement, with the objective to help participants:
Identify common obstacles to a successful retirement;
develop plans for a meaningful life with a renewed identity;
develop structures to avoid mental, physical, and social stagnation; and
organize their days in a leisurely fashion.
If you are interested in taking the Your Life After Retirement course, please complete the waitlist form.
“My partner, Dr. Leïla Reguigui, and I, two new dermatologists in the province, practising out of the Georges Dumont in Moncton wanted to reach out to say what a tremendous help Jenica was to our clinic. We both came from Halifax, Leïla just finishing her residency and me doing a one-year locum. As you can imagine, opening our own clinic came with several hurdles and stresses. Throughout the entire process, Jenica was, by far, the person who gave us the most help. She was integral in hiring our staff and ensuring that we were well supported. Without her help and guidance, we would probably still be muddling through interviews and trying to get our clinic staffed. Her insightful assessment of candidates was top notch and the amount of time and effort she saved on our end is immeasurable. She has also been there to support us after hiring with other aspects of opening our clinic and if she doesn’t know an answer, she is quick to find one. In short, having Jenica as part of our team has been the best part of opening our clinic in Moncton. We hope that she continues to be a great resource and support for other physicians opening practice in New Brunswick.”
“Starting a new practice is an undeniably overwhelming process and my Practice Support services at NBMS were timely, invaluable, and will be a game changer for physicians in New Brunswick! Not only did they connect me with all the necessary resources in the city, but they also helped me figure out what I needed to set up my office, walked me through the entire process including helping to choose an EMR and hire a medical office admin, and provided reassurance every step of the way. Can’t thank Jenica at NBMS Practice Support enough for her hard work!”
– Dr. Julie Chan
If you or your team need support in enhancing your use of health technologies, effectively managing your patient panel, eliminating time-wasting tasks or other general business support, please reach out to practicesupport@nbms.nb.ca.
