KEY POINTS:
Patients' access to physiotherapy to treat injuries is at risk unless Accident Compensation Corporation payments are increased substantially, an independent reviewer has found.
A draft report on the review, led by lawyer David Goddard, QC, recommends increases of around 34 per cent and possibly significantly more.
"The current
funding arrangements are not sustainable," says the just-released report. Physiotherapists were unable to recover the "sustainable cost" of treating accident victims, the review found.
"This creates medium to long-term risks in terms of quality and availability of physiotherapy services in New Zealand, and unfairly transfers the cost of injuries in New Zealand from the community to the physiotherapy profession."
The Society of Physiotherapists has welcomed the review, set up by the Government under Labour's confidence and supply agreement with New Zealand First.
Society president Jonathan Warren said the report confirmed the society's claims.
"This is the fear we have been voicing, that physios could not continue to provide high-quality services to injured New Zealanders on the fees we are currently paid by ACC."
ACC runs two physiotherapists payment systems. It pays for 74 per cent of physiotherapy claims through its Endorsed Provider Network (EPN), which has around 1200 physios. The review says the "implicit hourly rate" is around $103 (excluding GST) and patients cannot be charged co-payments in normal working hours.
The remaining claims, covered by separate rules, are paid at $21.76 a session or $54.73 an hour (excluding GST); co-payments are permitted.
The report recommends the Government lift the EPN payments to at least $138 an hour, or increase the payments by less and allow co-payments for all patients. It indicates that because the endorsed-provider system dominates, the recommended rises would indirectly allow the non-EPN physios to increase their patient co-payments to more realistic levels.
ACC Minister Ruth Dyson said she looked forward to "further deliberations and the final report".
The review also looked at concerns over communications between ACC and physiotherapists and the corporation's fraud investigation processes.
ACC said the review had produced "constructive ideas" for changes in areas for which the corporation was responsible. It had already started considering options for addressing these.
The report's comments on the fraud team would be considered in a review.
WHAT THEY GET NOW
* ACC gives private sector physiotherapists in its Endorsed Provider Network $35.03 to $76.69 a session.
* Rate depends on whether first or follow-up visit and degree of complexity.
* Patients cannot be charged a top-up fee during normal working hours.
* A minority of private physiotherapists are funded differently. They receive $21.76 a session or $54.73 an hour.
* Under that system, patients can be charged a top-up.
Note: All figures exclude GST.