Mark: Hi, it’s Mark from TLR. I’m here with Dana Ranahan. She’s the owner, the chief physiotherapist at body-works.ca or Body Works Physiotherapy in North Vancouver, BC. So we’re going to talk about a little bit of a change in how you can get, if you’ve been in an accident, how ICBC has really changed things. So what’s going on with ICBC?
Dana: Yeah, Mark, thanks for that welcome. There’s been a big change in how ICBC has handled some of their injury claims. And it started in 2019 where they started to adjust how they handled getting treatment after an injury. And there’s other changes of course, but the treatment is more what affects people, I think right from the get go.
So if you’ve had an accident and you’re injured, it used to be that you had to go to your physician and get a doctor’s note and get a referral for physiotherapy. And at that time, ICBCs fee schedule didn’t cover a lot of our actual costs here. So the patients were required to pay a user fee out of pocket, which made it a little bit harder.
So about two years ago in 2019, they changed their fee structure. So they are actually covering quite a bit more for the session, which allows people now to come to our clinic without paying a user fee. And they do now cover a certain number of sessions over the first period of time. So they kind of give you a timeframe and a certain number of sessions, if you have a valid claim number.
So if you’ve had an accident and you have a claim number, you don’t need to see your physician. It’s a quicker step to come directly to us. Our area of special training is working in musculoskeletal injury. So it helps us to address what’s happening. And certainly we’ll refer back to the physician if need be.
But I think it helps people get access much quicker to what they need and they don’t have to pay out of pocket for that cost. So it helps them to get the care and the treatment they need without having to break the bank if they work or whatnot.
Mark: So the advantage of this basically is that people can get treated sooner with less fuss and they’re not having to pay for it and they can get feeling better quicker.
Dana: I think in the past what the problem was when people would have to pay $50 user fee or something to come in for visit and ICBC would pay a portion of the visit. Then it’s still quite a lot of money. So if someone has to come in and pay that and they maybe don’t have extended benefits or whatnot, but they’re have injuries, I think then what we would see is that people just didn’t want to come as frequently because they couldn’t afford to.
So at the end of the day, you might end up having a prolonged recovery. If you’re not able to get the care that is recommended in the earlier phases. And so if we can see people regularly from the get go, usually can start to get them on the path much quicker. So I see that as made a huge change now where people are not having to pay out of pocket and able to get the care they need much quicker.
Mark: So if you’ve been in an accident in North Vancouver or West Van, or even Burnaby, et cetera, make the journey to Body Works Physiotherapy in North Vancouver. They’ll get you looked after, body-works.ca to book or (604) 983-6616. You got to call and book ahead. They’re busy. Thanks, Dana.
Dana: Thanks so much Mark.