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New Initiatives
New initiatives, early reporting, intervention and treatment
New initiatives to improve health outcomes, management and care of patients with motor vehicle injuries have been introduced.
Early notification of motor vehicle injuries is a critical component of best practice claims management. Early reporting and assessment enables prompt advice to be provided about funding treatment to support better health outcomes, faster recovery and earlier claim resolution for patients.
To improve the management and care of patients, clinical guidelines for the management of whiplash-associated disorders have been developed. Click here to download these guidelines.
To administer this initiative, injury recovery care plans (IRCPs) have been introduced. IRCPs are an early intervention tool to manage injuries that occur in a motor vehicle accident. They assist general practitioners to plan and document their clinical approach based on best practice injury management principles. Fees apply for completion of these forms, which are additional to clinical consultation fees. Click here to download an extract from the Government Gazette (2 October 2008) which details fees and instructions relating to the completion of injury recovery care plans.
Notification of motor vehicle injury form
The notification of motor vehicle injury form provides early notification to Allianz (MAC’s claims manager) of an injury resulting from a motor vehicle crash. The general practitioner should complete this form during the first consultation, if:
- a person was injured in a motor vehicle crash that occurred in South Australia, and
- a person considers a motorist (other than themselves) was responsible for the crash, and
- this is the first time the person has seen a general practitioner in relation to injuries sustained in the crash, and
- the initial consultation occurs within ten (10) weeks of the crash.
By submitting this form to Allianz, it will enable Allianz to assess the accident circumstances and advise of their position in relation to funding the development of an Injury recovery care plan and subsequent treatment. This form also assists communication between the parties: quickly providing patients and treatment providers with notification of funding for medical treatment.
Injury recovery care plans
The injury recovery care plans are aimed at supporting discussions between patients and general practitioners about recovery pathways and goals. A patient is eligible for an injury recovery care plan if they:
- have been injured as a result of a motor vehicle crash in South Australia and for which another motorist was responsible for the crash (excludes serious/catastrophic injuries), and
- has submitted a claim form or completed a Notification of motor injury form and has had liability determined in their favour, and
- has ongoing symptoms that are not expected to resolve within one week of the completion of the plan.
The plans assist general practitioners with planning and documenting their clinical approach to injury management. They also provide information to the patient about recovery expectations, treatments and goals.
There are two injury recovery care plans available for completion by general practitioners to help manage the early stages of injury:
- Injury recovery care plan 1 (IRCP1) - ideally completed from one to two weeks (up to and including 5 weeks) from the date of accident if the patient has ongoing symptoms or incapacity, not expected to resolve within one week of completion of IRCP1. This plan is valid up to six weeks after its completion. Completion of Section A & B and patient consent is required.
- Injury recovery care plan 2 (IRCP2) – ideally completed from six to eight weeks (up to and including 12 weeks) from the date of accident if the patient has ongoing symptoms or incapacity or has not achieved optimal post-injury function (given their pre-injury status) and requires medical care beyond one week of completion of IRCP2. This plan is valid up to 12 weeks after its completion. Completion of Section A, B & C and patient consent is required.
Fees and timeframes apply for completion of these forms, which are additional to clinical consultation fees. Click here to download an extract from the Government Gazette (2 October 2008) which details fees and instructions relating to the completion of injury recovery care plans.
Further information and downloads
Notification of motor vehicle injury form.
Click here to download the notification of motor vehicle injury form.
Click here to download the notification of motor vehicle injury form (setup for Medical Director).
Click here to download the notification of motor vehicle injury form (setup for Best Practice).
Click here to download the notification of motor vehicle injury form (rtf format for uploading into your practice software).
Click here to download the fact sheet explaining the notification of motor vehicle injury form.
Click here to download instruction to upload templates into Medical Director.
NOTE: It is important to note that templates set up for Medical Director or Best Practice should not be opened in Microsoft Word, otherwise it will destroy the links that have been set up.
Injury recovery care plans.
Click here to download the injury recovery care plan (Sections A, B and C) template (Setup for Medical Director).
Click here to download the injury recovery care plan (Sections A, B and C) template (Setup for Best Practice).
Click here to download the injury recovery care plan (Sections A, B and C) template (rtf format for uploading into your practice software).
Click here to download the injury recovery care plan in PDF Format (Section A).
Click here to download the injury recovery care plan in PDF Format (Section B).
Click here to download the fact sheet explaining the injury recovery care plan.
Click here to download an extract from the Government Gazette (2 October 2008) which details fees and instruction relating to the completion of injury recovery care plans.
Click here to download instruction to upload templates into Medical Director
Information regarding compulsory third party insurance.
MAC have developed a brochure explain what compulsory third party insurance is.
Click here to download this brochure.
Allianz have developed a basic guide to explain, simply and clearly how the claims process works. It contains information on who can claim, how to make a claim, the claim finalisation process and things in between. It is not a legal document.
Click here to download this guide.
Whiplash-associated disorders guidelines (WAD)
Click here to download the whiplash-associated disorders guidelines (www.tracsa.org.au).
Click here for the University of Queensland's CONROD website relating to evidence-based whiplash information.
Click here to download a simple guide to whiplash and helpful exercises.
Outcome measurement tools
The Injury Recovery Care Plan encourages the use of outcome measurement tools, which are designed to evaluate changes in a patient from one point in time to another (for example the patient's pain level, psychological distress etc). A number of these tools can be found on WorkCoverSA's TREAT website using the following link: http://www.workcover.com/Treat/treathome/Resources/Outcomemeasures.aspx.
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