OHIP Holiday Billing

A statutory holiday changes what you can claim, not just when you worked. Two things move: which fee code applies to the visit, and which column of the special visit premium tables you bill from. Getting the holiday designation wrong is quiet money — the claim pays, just at the weekday rate.

There is a further catch. OHIP does not use one definition of “Holiday”. Standard emergency department listings use the conventional list; “H” prefix listings and A888 use a broader one. The same December 29th visit can be a Holiday under one definition and an ordinary weekday under the other.

What you actually claim

In an emergency department equivalent

An emergency department equivalent is an office or other place — walk-in clinic, urgent care centre, extended hours clinic — where the only insured services provided are to patients without pre-arranged appointments.

For an assessment rendered there on a Saturday, Sunday, or Holiday for the purpose of dealing with an emergency, A888  — Emergency department equivalent, partial assessment ($44.55) is the only fee code payable. Not A001, not A007 — A888.

To qualify it must meet the requirements of a partial assessment: history of the presenting complaint, the necessary physical examination, advice to the patient, and an appropriate record.

No premiums are payable for a service rendered in an emergency department equivalent. That rule is absolute and it catches people repeatedly. Excluded alongside A888:

• Special visit premiums (travel and first person seen)
• Age-based fee premiums
• E078  — chronic disease assessment premium
• E080  — first visit after hospital discharge premium

Hypnotherapy and counselling rendered to the same patient by the same physician on the same day as A888 are also not payable.

On a special visit to a patient’s home

Here the holiday designation is worth real money. Special Visit Premium Table VI has a dedicated Saturday, Sunday and Holidays (00:00–24:00) column:

Billing the weekday pair for a holiday visit leaves $39.60 on the table per visit. The travel premium is identical either way; the first-person-seen premium is not.

Two limits that apply regardless of the day: the travel premium is payable only for the first patient seen at the destination, and a multiple resident dwelling — apartment block, retirement home, group home — counts as a single location no matter how many patients you see in it.

Note also that special visit premiums are not payable with A001  or A007  rendered in a patient’s home. For those two codes travel is a common element already included in the assessment fee.

Which days count

Standard emergency department listings and A888

Non-”H” prefix emergency department listings:

• Family Day
• Good Friday
• Victoria Day
• Canada Day
• Civic Holiday
• Labour Day
• Thanksgiving
• New Year’s Day — if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the Friday before or the Monday following
• Boxing Day — if it falls on a Saturday, the Monday following
• Christmas Day — if it falls on a Sunday, the Friday before; if on a Saturday, the Friday before and the Monday following

”H” prefix listings and A888

“H” prefix emergency department listings use a broader definition:

• Family Day
• Good Friday
• Victoria Day
• Canada Day — if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the Friday before or the Monday after
• Civic Day
• Labour Day
• Thanksgiving
• New Year’s Day
• December 25–31 inclusive, with Christmas and New Year adjustments

That December 25–31 block is the one most often missed. Under this definition every day of the week between Christmas and New Year’s is a Holiday — not just the two statutory days.

The special definition applying to A888 also provides that if Christmas Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the Friday before Christmas Day counts; if New Year’s Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the Monday following counts; and if Canada Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, either the Friday before or the Monday following counts — as determined at the choice of the physician.

Common mistakes

Billing A007 instead of A888 for a walk-in holiday visit. A007 pays the same $44.55, so the claim looks fine — but for services described by emergency department equivalent partial assessment, A888 is the only fee code payable.

Adding premiums to A888. They will be recovered. The weekend and holiday value is already inside the A888 fee.

Using the weekday column for a holiday home visit. B990 instead of B994 costs $39.60 every time.

Treating December 27–30 as ordinary days. Under the “H” prefix and A888 definition they are Holidays.

Forgetting the physician’s choice on weekend-shifted holidays. Where the Schedule gives you the Friday before or the Monday following, that election is yours — document the time of the visit in the medical record either way.

SnapBill applies the correct holiday definition automatically based on the service date and the code you’re claiming, so the right premium column is selected before the claim is submitted. Try it free .

Fees and rules verified against the OHIP Schedule of Benefits, effective April 1, 2026.