Summary of changes to:

Medical, allied health and return to work services fee schedules.

Allied health amendments / Chiro / Osteo / Exerc
Physio / Occup-
therapy / Physio-therapy / Psych
-ology / Speech paths
Telephone calls (xx552) – minor wording change. /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
Independent clinical assessment (xx780)
– minor wording change. /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
Travel expenses (xx907) – we’ve added:
Car hire can only be charged where the provider travels by aircraft to deliver the service. /  / 
Restricted consultation (PT214) – the process now requires all applications to be directed to the Physiotherapy Advisor at RTWSA irrespective of injury.
Applications will only be considered when submitted by the treating physiotherapist. / 
ADL assessment tools – the examples of ADL assessment tools have been removed & the OT/PT can decide on the appropriate objective tool to suit the worker’s circumstances. /  / 
Travel (PS905) - hourly rate of $166.20 remains the same until the other allied health groups catch up. / 
Medical amendments
Recovery & return to work plans (RRTWG/R) – we’ve added ‘a worker’s employer (included the employer’s return to work co-ordinator’ can request the plan.
Telephone calls (WMG/P/S24) – now allows providers to bill if the call is related to the management of a worker’s claim or to progress their recovery and return to work e.g. calls to referring/treating practitioners.
Cancellation of case conference, worksite assessment, dispute resolution or third party consultation (WMG/P/S36)
– the cancellation timeframe has been changed from 24 to 48 hours.
General practitioner PIA fees – have increased to the same as specialists.
Return to work services
Travel expenses – added text ‘car hire can only be charged where the provider travel by aircraft to deliver the service.
Pre-injury employer services
-Service categories removed: Remain at work; Return to work; Complex return to work; Pre-injury duties transition.These categories were removed to simplify the pre-injury employer service. There is now one referral category: pre-injury employer service (PIE).
Job placement services
-Independent job seeking support services have been removed. This is because all workers, irrespective of their independent job-seeking capabilities, should be able to access intensive job-seeking support.
-JB701 Service fee (3rd & subsequent 13 wks) has been added. This is to enable worker’s to continue to access services after their 26-week intensive service has ended.
-36+ month referral category removed. This referral category is no longer necessary in a time-banded scheme.
Return to work assessment services
-WA160A/B Pre-injury transition has replaced items WR520A/B and moved to this category.
-WA001A/B Agent case conference and WA140A Return to work goal verification services have been removed. Agent Case Conference Support was a service specifically introduced to support our agents and is no longer needed with the introduction of mobile case managers. The decision to change the return to work goal does not sit with the claims agent and therefore the Return to work goal verification service is no longer needed.
-Exercise Physiologists (EP) can deliver Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE) and Worksite Assessments (WSA). ESSA (Exercise Sports Science Australia) put a case forward on EP’s suitability to deliver these services, which we approved based on their undergraduate training and suitability to assess functional capacity.