In time for the pilot of the Assessment of Attendant Care Needs – Form 1 on HCAI, FSCO has released a bulletin announcing revisions in the Attendant Care hourly rates and transportation expense guidelines.
The bulletin is addressed to automobile insurers and health care providers in Ontario.
What Are the New Rates and Guidelines?
There are three rates, corresponding to each category of attendant care. As of October 1, 2016, the maximum effective rate for Level 1 Attendant Care (for routine personal care) is $14.90 per hour. For Level 2 Attendant Care (for basic supervisory functions), the maximum rate is now $11.40. And the maximum rate for Level 3 Attendant Care (complex health/care and hygiene functions) is now $21.11.
Under the revised guidelines, the insurer is now liable to pay $0.40/km for mileage when the insured person and his/her attendant or aide travel to and from treatment sessions, counselling sessions, training sessions, assessments, and examinations when they use the insured person’s automobile. It’s important to know that these rates exclude the first 50 km of the round trip.
What Do These Changes Mean for You?
You will want to update the rates for relevant services as well as transportation in Universal Office. For steps to update the rates in your practice management system, please see the Edit Activity section in the Create and Manage Activities article in our knowledgebase.
As of our latest release, Universal Office users can now submit Form 1 electronically to insurers via HCAI. The response from adjusters will also be received via HCAI and the document status will be automatically updated for the electronically submitted Form 1 right in the patient file.
For more information about the revised rate and expense guidelines, see Bulletin No. A-14/16 posted on FSCO’s website.
