As you may be aware, the Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI) system will be undergoing a major reintroduction over the next year. It is being introduced in several steps, including initial testing, public testing, a pilot stage, and finally mandatory enrollment. The process is rather lengthy, so we’ve decided to provide you with a summary of all you’ll need to know for a comfortable adoption to the new HCAI.
Initial Testing: June to July 2009
The new HCAI application is currently being tested. During this time, training tools as well as a trial environment for individuals to practice are available on the HCAI website, http://www.hcaiinfo.ca/. Meanwhile, Practice Management Software developers, Antibex included, are working to integrate recent HCAI toolkit updates into their tools.
Keep in mind that the current system will be decommissioned on July 31, 2009. All access will be revoked and all user names and passwords will be void. Fortunately, the registration and setup information used by health care facilities will be automatically transferred to the new system. This means that facilities that are currently registered will not have to re-enter their information. However, OCFs will not be automatically copied to the new system, so if your facility wishes to keep copies of current OCFs, please download the PDF files onto your hard drive before July 31.
Public Testing: August 2009
Public volunteers, including both insurers and healthcare providers, will be testing the new system in August. Testing results will be released throughout the month.
Pilot Stage: September 2009 to February 2010
The new HCAI system will be gradually introduced throughout the pilot stage. In September, only a few insurers and healthcare providers will participate. More users will be introduced until the end of February, at which point HCAI aims to have transferred about 25% of all users to the new system. If your health care facility would like to participate in the pilot stage, please register with Viivi Riis at vriis@ibc.ca.
Full Rollout (Mandatory Enrollment): March to November 2010
The full rollout will be divided into several phases in order to introduce HCAI in a controlled manner. Each phase will be followed by an evaluation of the system. Essentially, insurers will be introduced first, followed by healthcare facilities in three distinct groups. The HCAI Participant List, which will assign healthcare facilities into the three groups, will be released on the FSCO website. Note that the list only includes facilities in existence as of March 12, 2008. If your facility was formed after this date, you will be placed into the third phase unless you volunteer for the pilot stage.
FSCO has striven to improve this rollout process from previous rollouts. This time, new users will not have to maintain dual processes during their adoption period. In addition, OCF transactions will be introduced in a more organized manner, and self-help tools will continually be updated on the HCAI website. Finally, the three-phase structure itself is an improvement, as it allows control points to monitor the quality and capabilities of the new system. Details of the three phases are available below:
Phase One
- All insurers will be integrated into HCAI during March
- 500 healthcare providers will adopt HCAI from April to May
Phase Two
- 500 new healthcare providers will be enrolled each month from June to August.
Phase Three
- From September to November, the remaining healthcare providers on the HCAI Participant List will adopt HCAI at a rate of about 750 per month
- Healthcare providers not included in the HCAI Participant List will be enrolled on November 30
As you can see, the transition to the new HCAI will not be a quick process. Hopefully, given its improvements from the previous rollout, it will proceed smoothly and conveniently for all those involved. To stay updated with all HCAI related news, we encourage you to visit http://www.hcaiinfo.ca/.
