​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Physicians

Are you a physician treating a patient with injuries sustained in a car crash? Here are a few things you should know.​​​

​​​Support for physicians treating ICBC customers

ICBC partnered with UBC Continuing Professional Development to create an online resource to support physicians and Medical Office Assistants in treating patients. The resource addresses all common topics and answers most common questions.

Obtaining patient consent

It is important to discuss with your patient the purpose of the reports and request their consent to share the report with ICBC, consistent with your information sharing guidelines. Where a patient has not granted consent to share reports with ICBC, ICBC will send the Health Care Provider Report Request Letter (CL491) to the health care provider outlining applicable legislation that permits ICBC to obtain the report. ​

Treatment guidelines

Physicians are expected to assess patients and determine their treatment plans in accordance with the College of Physicians and Surgeons practice standards, using evidence-informed practice when e​​stablishing a diagnosis and providing treatments.

When treating a patient with an injury listed in sections 3 or 4 of the Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols in the Minor Injury Regulation made under the ​Insurance (Vehicle) Act, a health care practitioner must educate the patient with respect to the following:

(1) (a) if applicable, the desirability of an early return:

a. to the activities the patient could perform before the injury, or

b. to the patient's employment, occupation or profession or the patient's training or education in a program or course;

(b) an estimate of the probable length of time that symptoms will last;

(c) the usual course of recovery;

(d) the probable factors that are responsible for the symptoms the patient may be experiencing;

(e) appropriate self-management and pain management strategies.

(2) When treating a pain syndrome and a psychological or psychiatric condition, a health care practitioner must identify comorbid conditions, if applicable.

Fees

The ​​​ Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation and Enhanced Accident Benefits Regulation contains the amounts that ICBC will cover for care and treatment after a crash. These fees apply to patient visits in which an assessment occurs and for which a report and treatment plan is generated. The table below outlines the type of visits that may occur, and the fee that ICBC will pay upon receipt of the report.

 *Submit either one standard assessment & report or one extended assessment & report. Only complete one of the two reports.

Notes

• For physicians, regular visits will continue to be billed via MSP-Teleplan with ICBC selected as the insurer and no report is required.

• Visits occurring after a claim closes can no longer be billed to ICBC. 

Invoicing & reporting

When a patient attends an appointment for the purpose of completing a report to send to ICBC, the report itself serves as the invoice; no invoice is required. Invoice short visits that do not require a re-assessment report through MSP-Teleplan.

If a patient attends for a regular appointment, presenting with injuries from a crash and has a valid claim number, they may be rescheduled for a subsequent, longer, appointment and an assessment and report may be completed at that time.  

The CL489 series of reports are the only reports requested by ICBC under Section 28/28.1 of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act. ICBC is not permitted to request any other reports, diagnostic test results, or clinical records without patient consent.

It is important to discuss with your patient the purpose of the reports. Please ensure reports or information are shared with ICBC only where patient consent has been granted or where requested under legislation. For more information on patient consent, including a flow chart of the process, review our patient consent considerations document.

Report templates

General Practitioners

• CL489 - Standard Medical Report
• CL489A - GP Extended Medical Report
• CL489B - GP Reassessment Medical Report​

Support on fillable PDFs

Please note that a personal computer (laptop, notebook, desktop, etc.) is required to use the fillable PDF report templates. Mobile devices, including devices using iPad OS and iOS, are not supported.

To fill in and save a PDF:

• Right-click the link, select “Save link as…" from the menu, and save the PDF file to your computer.
• Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
  
• Fill in the form, and review the information you've entered.
• If applicable, click the “Lock" button at the top of the form. This will set the form to a “read only" state. This action cannot be undone, so ensure you've carefully reviewed the information you entered into the form before locking the PDF
• Save the PDF document.

Reports have been integrated into Electronic Medical Record (EMR)

ICBC has integrated the report templates into several common EMR solutions. Please ensure you are following the required steps of your respective EMR solution. If your EMR solution does not house the report, you can download it. If your EMR provider has not integrated the reports into their software, please mail or fax the report to:

By fax: 1-877-686-4222

By mail:
Return to ICBC
PO BOX 2121, STATION TERMINAL
VANCOUVER, B.C.
V6B 0L6

Information for completing reports

You are required to complete the report(s) if you are the physician who is treating the patient (and you are monitoring the outlined treatment plan). 

You will need the patient's claim number and date of accident, as well as the vendor number for the payee. In some cases, the payee is the same as the physician completing the report, or it may be a clinic or another entity depending on your payment model. You will be asked to identify an invoice or reference number, which would be the number in your own filing system that would help you identify the payment of this item for accounts reconciliation purposes. 

What is an ICBC vendor number?

Use an ICBC vendor number to identify the clinic or pract​itioner that ICBC pays for the treatment service. This number allows for you to conveniently receive one combined payment for all services, along with a statement listing all paid reports or invoices. ICBC can issue payments via electronic fund transfer (EFT), which is deposited directly to your nominated account. Keeping on top of your business accounts is easier when you're enrolled in our vendor system.

Your vendor number is on the vendor statment or EFT statement that you received from ICBC. If you have a vendor number already, you will not need to apply for a new one, as this number will not be changing and will remain strictly for billing purposes. Please ensure that you use the number identifying the clinic or practitioner that is to be paid for completing the service.

Applying for a vendor number

To update payment information for standard visits, which are invoiced via MSP-Teleplan, you must contact MSP-Teleplan directly. ICBC does not maintain payment details for items invoiced through MSP-Teleplan.

• If you are new to working with ICBC patients and will be invoicing ICBC directly for reports and other non-MSP services, you can apply for a vendor number.
• If you are a physician already providing services to ICBC patients and wish to be paid directly for reports and other non-MSP services, the Health Care Inquiry Unit can confirm the ICBC vendor number that matches your MSP record. This is an ICBC-specific account number that is automatically generated the first time an office visit is billed via MSP-Teleplan.
• If you are a physician employed by an entity that already invoices ICBC, and you do not want to be paid directly for reports and other non-MSP services, you do not need to apply for a vendor number.
• If you are a clinic that only employs physicians, and no other treatment providers (ex. physiotherapist, chiropractor, counsellor) that see ICBC patients, you can apply for a vendor number using the form below, or the Health Care Inquiry Unit can verify your vendor number.
• If you are a clinic that employs physicians and other treatment providers who see ICBC patients, please review the vendor application requirements on the Vendor number page.
  

Apply for a vendor number