ICBC’s April 12 webinar for Acupuncturists on the new Enhanced Care programme was chock full of essential information for anyone direct billing to ICBC!

If you were unable to attend, a recording of the webinar will be available on the ICBC Acupuncturists business partner page after April 20.

Highlights from the webinar:

For MVAs on or after May 1, AND an initial treatment that is outside of the Early Access Period (EAP = within 12 weeks of the date of the accident), APPROVAL FOR THE INITIAL VISIT will be required prior to treatment! Make sure your booking system indicates that a patient is coming for an initial treatment as part of an ICBC claim so that you can obtain approval for ICBC coverage in advance. Practitioners must contact ICBC via the Health Care Inquiry Unit to seek pre-approval.

• Treatment Plans (the replacement for Extension Requests, in place since Feb 28) focus on functional progress, limitations and projected outcomes from additional treatment. When writing a treatment plan, focus on describing what the patient can do now because they have had treatment, and what they cannot yet do that requires further treatment. Do not give a TCM diagnosis in your Treatment Plan – the CTCMA requires this for your patient charts only. When you are communicating with ICBC, use clear lay terms to describe the patient’s functional status. The CTCMA requires practitioners to be able to use simple non-TCM language to explain a patient’s condition, so you will not be penalized by the CTCMA for communicating in biomedical or plain language.

• If you know that your patient will need to continue treatment after 12 weeks from the date of the MVA, don’t wait until their pre-approved treatments are finished to submit a Treatment Plan. Submit it as soon as you determine that additional care will be needed.

• You can continue to use the Health Care Provider Invoicing and Reporting (HCPIR) Application, or you may switch to the Health Care Provider Portal. The Portal has more functions and information than the HCPIR. You need a PIN to access the Portal, so contact ICBC’s Health Care Inquiry Unit if you have not yet received one.

• Practitioners will be able to communicate directly with ICBC claim representatives as of May 1. If your current informed consent form does not already include a clause that allows you to discuss your patient’s case with ICBC claim specialists, consider adding one.

Other important topics were covered and many questions were answered during the webinar, so please watch it and read through ICBC’s page for Acupuncturists to ensure you are fully informed BEFORE the changes come into effect!

ICBC在4月12日专为针灸师开放的新加强护理程序网络讲座里提供了许多对任何人被ICBC直接报销的重要信息！如果您无法参加， 已录制好的网络讲座将在4月20号之后上传到ICBC的针灸师商业伙伴的网页中.

讲座重点：

对于5月1日或之后的MVA，以及在抢先体验期（EAP =事故发生之日起12周内）之外的初始治疗，需要在治疗之前获得初次就诊的批准！ 请确保您的预订系统提及患者将要接受初次治疗，因为这是ICBC索赔的一部分，也方便您可以提前获得ICBC承保的批准。  从业人员必须使用Health Care Inquiry Unit与ICBC联系，以获得预先批准.

• 治疗计划（对延期申请的替换系统，自2月28日起实施）着重于功能性进步，局限性及额外治疗的预期结果。 在编写治疗计划时，应着重描述患者在接受治疗后可以做什么，以及对他们尚不能做的事情而申请进一步治疗. 请不要在治疗计划中给出您的中医诊断-CTCMA仅要求您在您的患者图表中做此诊断。 当您与ICBC沟通时，请使用清晰明了的术语来描述患者的功能状态。 CTCMA要求从业人员能够使用简单的非TCM语言来解释患者的病情，因此您不会因使用生物医学或普通语言来进行交流一事而受到CTCMA的处罚。

• 如果您知道您的患者在事故发生日期的12周后仍需继续治疗， 请不要等到他们的预先批准的治疗用完之后再去提交一份治疗计划。 在您确定您的患者需要额外护理后， 请您尽早提交您的计划.

• 您可以继续使用“医疗服务提供者开票及汇报 （HCPIR）”的应用程序，或者您也可以切换到“医疗服务提供者门户网站”。 该门户网站比HCPIR具有更多的功能和信息。 您需要输入PIN才能访问此门户，所以如果您尚未收到您的PIN, 请您与 ICBC的Health Care Inquiry Unit 部门联系.

• 从5月1日起，从业人员将可以直接与ICBC索赔代表沟通。如果您当前的知情同意书还尚未包含允许您与ICBC索赔专员讨论患者情况的条款，请您考虑添加一个。