Update for ICBC Service Providers

The following message is for all occupational therapists who provide services to ICBC:

ICBC is committed to improving the customer experience and maintaining financial stability. Our goal is to provide streamlined care for our injured customers to help them focus on their immediate recovery needs and get back to their lives as quickly as possible. ICBC is improving the way we manage disability services for customers who are off work which is consistent with our recent claims initiatives to provide immediate access to treatment and to remove the requirement to obtain general practitioner approval for up to 20 physiotherapy treatments.

ICBC believes that improvement in return to work outcomes can be achieved with proactive early intervention and with appropriate assessment and support delivered in a timely manner. Accordingly at 4 - 8 weeks post injury, where an injured person is still disabled from work and a return to work date is not established, ICBC Recovery Coordinators will now have options of referring the injured person to either a return to work case manager or to an interdisciplinary triage assessment team.  Referral to the return to work case manager or to the interdisciplinary triage assessment team will be generated based on report information received in advance of the 4 – 8 week period, from any one or more of the following: CL19 (Family Physician), CL20 (Physiotherapy), and/or CL 266 (Chiropractor).

Referral to a return to work case manager or triage assessment team will also be based on geographic availability of resources. The referral to one of these two streams of enhanced file handling will provide valuable baseline information and comparative details for future file handling considerations.

Return to work case managers will be either an occupational therapist, who may have already been assigned to the file, or a vocational rehabilitation consultant.

Interdisciplinary triage assessments, in various community locations, will be provided by Centric Health Life Mark or the CBI Health Group.  The interdisciplinary triage assessment may involve a disability management physician to look at medical issues, a physiotherapist to screen physical function and determine the phase of healing, a kinesiologist to perform a fitness and work capacity screen and an occupational therapist who provides disability screening.

The purpose of the added services is to assist with identifying and remedying any barriers to recovery, including:

 medical or diagnostic issues

 physical or functional barriers

 psychological barriers

 vocational barriers

The return to work case manager or triage assessment team, with your involvement, will help determine where in the recovery process the patient is and what resources might assist in more quickly achieving the recovery goals. The return to work case manager and/or rehabilitation professionals on the interdisciplinary triage team will collaborate with treating care providers regarding rehabilitation recommendations.

This early intervention will be part of ICBCs ongoing approach to working with our customers and healthcare providers to deliver an improved customer experience, and improved functional outcomes at a reasonable cost.  In the future, you may receive a letter informing you of this assessment (sample letter). 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards, 

Linda Calbick, ACS, CIP

Manager, Injury Technical and Program Support

Claims Programs
ICBC 

Telephone: 604-647-6140