British Columbia’s family doctors have a new payment model.

The province says it’s now better able to attract new family doctors to family practice and retain existing doctors and includes a pay raise of about 135-thousand dollars.

A tentative three-year Physician Master Agreement reached with Doctors of B-C last week will see a full-time family doctor earn about $385,000 a year -- up from $250,000.

The new payment model, co-developed by Doctors of BC, BC Family Doctors, and the Province, will be available to family doctors beginning February.

It provides another option for family doctors that marks a departure from the fee-for-service model under which doctors are paid based primarily on the number of patients they see in a day.

The new model takes into account factors including the time a doctor spends with a patient and the number of patients a doctor sees in a day.