TORONTO, Tuesday, October 30, 2001 — Insurance Bureau of Canada
is about to launch a new reference guide for insurance claims professionals. Managing
Injury Claims and Health Care Issues was released to the industry in an introductory
session Wednesday, November 28, 2001.
“Managing health care issues has become increasingly
complex and costly,” said Paul Kovacs, IBC Senior Vice President, Policy. “A
need was identified for a manual that would provide the necessary tools to work with, and
answer questions related to, health care claims.”
The result was months of work by a team of industry experts
to develop a package of information tools.
“Putting all of the information in one place will be a
tremendous help to those sorting through the details of government health insurance plans,
best treatment options, and access to community-based care, for instance,” Mr. Kovacs explained.
The reference guide has a national focus and will regularly
be supplemented with new general and province-specific materials. It is designed to
promote increased knowledge and understanding of:
-
principles and legislation underlying health care policy in Canada;
-
the interaction of provincial health care and automobile
insurance legislation and implications for claims handling; -
health care issues faced by injury claims staff and ways to
effectively deal with them; -
evidence-based practices for common and controversial
injuries/conditions and how these may be applied to promote cost-effective claims management; and, -
trends in, and strategies for, the management of both health
care and health care costs.
The Ontario version of the guide was released at the
November 28 session. Similar programs will be held in Alberta and the Atlantic provinces in 2002.
Panelists introducing the manual will include: Carol
Jardine, Vice President Claims, Royal & SunAlliance; George Lytwyn,
Rehabilitation Co-ordinator, Axa Insurance; Viivi Riis, President, Dynamic
Rehabilitation and Chair of Continuing Professional Development Committee, Dept. of
Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; Dr. Arthur Cott,
Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of Behavioural Medicine
Centre, McMaster University and President, Prisma Health; Randy Bundus, Vice
President, General Counsel and Secretary, IBC; and Deborah Camirand, Manager,
Health Care Project, IBC.
NOTE: This manual came about at the request of IBC’s member
companies. It is available only to IBC member companies and their employees. Only those
people from member companies, who are interested in obtaining a copy, should contact
Yvonne Cuellar, 416-362-2031, extension 356.
