A new agreement between Doctors of BC and WorkSafeBC was recently negotiated and has now come into effect. The agreement, valid until 31 March 2022, recognizes the importance of physicians’ work and time spent on helping injured workers. Changes to the agreement recognize that family physicians have a better understanding of their patient’s health history and that they can provide insight that other physicians may not.
Below are some of the changes from the new agreement:
- Effective Feb 2, 2021, the payment rates for all WorkSafeBC fee items were increased. A retroactive payment for claims previously paid at the old rate has now been processed and can be found on your April 15 remittance statement under adjustment code 80. A 2.3% rate increase will be applied to all WorkSafeBC fee codes in Years 2 and 3.
- The family doctor of an injured worker will receive the Form 8 fee even if the injured worker previously saw a doctor at a walk-in clinic or hospital. The Form 8 must be received within 10 business days of the date that the first Form 8 was received by WorkSafeBC.
TIP: To receive the Form 8 fee, physicians must answer “yes” to the question, “Are you the injured worker’s regular practitioner?”
- You will receive a financial bonus if you send a Form 8 electronically within 1 business day of treating the injured worker. (See Fee code 19937.)
- A new fee code has been created (19559) for use if WorkSafeBC requests a copy of a Form 11. This fee code has the same rate as fee code 19940 (electronically sending Form 11).
- WorkSafeBC can no longer request unsevered medical records. When a copy of an existing report is requested, such as a consult report or an imaging report, clinics can bill fee code 19904, a flat fee regardless of the number of pages sent.
- Physicians who receive a request for severed medical records can continue to bill fee code 19953. TIP: Clinics that receive the request but have no files to send as a result can still invoice the fee code for severed medical records.
- Phone calls between a treating physician and either a WorkSafeBC officer, a medical advisor, a WorkSafeBC-sponsored treatment program physician, a community physician, and/or a community allied health provider can now all be billed under 19930. (Fee codes 19919 and 19508 have been deleted.)
To learn more about the changes, please refer to the new Doctors of BC and WorkSafeBC agreement or visit the WorkSafeBC website.