It’s that time of year, once again – time to file the Annual Information Return (AIR). This yearly questionnaire is mandatory for all service providers licensed by FSCO as a way to gather statistics of submitted claims and to collect information about business practices and internal control systems for the previous calendar year. This assists FSCO with market analysis, risk assessment and oversight of service providers, and also serves as the tool to calculate the annual regulatory fee payable by service providers. And since the AIR is always due no later than March 31st, we’ve been getting many requests from our customers on how to file this FSCO requirement.
Keep in mind that the AIR must be filed electronically, and may only be completed by the principal representative. All questions included are mandatory unless otherwise specified, and will pertain to:
- Principal representative
- Service provider/business
- Membership
- Business systems and practices
- Billing information and practices
- Suitability
Above all, your FSCO Service Provider License will no longer be active if the AIR is not filed. As a result of your license being discontinued, you will not be able to submit claims for listed expenses directly to insurers via HCAI. A big deal, right? That’s why we’ve created two reports that can instantly pull the mandatory details you need.
The two reports are available in our Online Template Library, which is accessible directly from Universal Office, and they have both been placed into a group called FSCO. While these reports are similar – and both include new search criteria based on popular demand from clinics – they extract slightly different information.
Here are details on each report:
Report 1: MVA patients by their account activity
Since the AIR requires a calculation of the total number of claimants for the year, a patient search can be a helpful tool. Keep in mind that according to FSCO, the “total number of claimants” means each person for which payment has been received per accident. One patient may be counted more than once when involved in multiple accidents.
Search criteria for this report:
- At least one patient detail must be chosen from these parameters to generate a report: MVA charge, MVA invoice sent, or MVA payment received. Corresponding dates for the selected detail must also be included. Failure to select from these criteria will result in an empty report.
- A more detailed search of payment methods can find those including the words “MVA” or “mva” – but does not include “write” or “off” in any combination.
- If all criteria are selected instead of just one, “OR” will be applied and a list of multiple patients will be generated.
For facilities that create multiple MVA cases per provider, we suggest running this report using the “MVA payment received” search parameter within the corresponding date range. Keep in mind that if a patient has two MVA accidents, then that patient will be listed only once.
Report 2: MVA patient cases by their account activity
While the search criteria for this report are exactly the same, the details are based on cases and will generate a report with the patient name and case information.
For facilities that create one case per MVA accident, we suggest running this report using the “MVA payment received” search parameter within the corresponding date range.
For instructions on how to access the Online Template Library, please see the steps provided under the Download Report from Template Library section in the Generate Reports, Import and Export Templates article. However, if you need to extract additional information, you can always order a custom report.
We hope our reports help make your filing process for the Annual Information Return a little easier this year. Until next year’s AIR is due, keep checking our blog for more helpful guides and the latest updates!
