ACC scan funding shake-up likely after $112m blowout amid lack of public health capacity

More people are getting scans and they are more complex. Photo / 123rf

By RNZ

ACC is looking at a shake-up of how it funds tens of millions of dollars of scans for patients.

The Accident Compensation Corporation is the country’s largest single funder of high-tech imaging such as MRI and CT scans.

But it is grappling with a scans budget blowout to $112 million last year as people get more done and they technology gets ever-more complex.

An earlier ACC review showed it pays private radiology providers well above rates in Australia or UK.

A review of the rates it pays and consultation with the sector is expected early next year, ACC chief clinical officer and head of health partnerships Dr John Robson said.

The radiology sector is in flux as masses of investment flows into private providers while hospitals struggle to cope with a lack of workers and technology weaknesses.

Private providers are fighting among each other, too, with a case going to the High Court this month aiming to force ACC to reconsider funding for private radiology practices owned by surgeons, as opposed to those owned by radiologists or private equity firms.

Robson said a ruling on that was expected next year.

“It is important to recognise, though, that the judicial review by one group of radiologists stands alone and is not part of a wider policy review” of high-tech imaging, he said.

- RNZ