Accredited Employers – Problems at the Coalface
At the June ACC General Practice Liaison Group meeting, NZMA Policy Advisor Lucille Curtis raised the issue of the problem GPs were having with accredited employers. These related to:
- Administration -- dealing with accredited employers was slow and costly
- Payment -- where there was a dispute as to whether the injury was work related, GPs were not paid for their services (if at all) until the dispute was resolved
- Resolution of problems between employers and GPs -- where a GP phoned ACC to raise a concern about an accredited employer, ACC referred the matter back to the employer rather than helping to resolve the issue.
ACC was receptive to these problems and has since advised:
- The partnership programme between accredited employers and ACC is currently under review and the above matters will be considered
- By law, accredited employers are not obliged to pay a provider for their services until a determination is made that the injury is work-related. ACC however believes that in principle the receiving insurer (either the accredited employer or ACC) should pay until the dispute is resolved and it is now working on a policy to address this issue
- Although the current administration system for accredited employers is paper-based, ACC is looking at a way whereby accredited employer invoices can be electronically lodged with ACC and then sent directly to the employers. Unfortunately this has not been budgeted for the 2007/2008 financial year
In addition ACC has provided a list of contact people GPs can contact if they are having problems with an accredited employer. They are however happy to look at other ways of improving relationships. For example in Darfield they recently set up a meeting between ACC, accredited employers and providers to discuss how they could all work better together. They are happy to replicate this in other parts of the country should GPs feel this was useful.
ACC is keen to continue the dialogue. If you are having any other problems with accredited employers please feel free to raise it either with Lucille Curtis by contacting lucille@nzma.org.nz or with any of the people listed. For any general concerns you have about ACC please contact Lucille Curtis directly.