The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) have announced they are replacing the current Allied Health Recovery Request (AHRR) with a new form called an Allied Health Treatment Request (AHTR).
- A link to the new form is here:
- What’s different?
It’s a different colour to the older one.
Apart from that, the obvious difference that SIRA highlight about the new AHTR is that it encourages both risk screening and identification of standard outcome measures by the allied health provider.
- SIRA’s example of an AHTR for physiotherapy
- SIRA’s example of an AHTR for psychology
- Who needs to complete the form?
SIRA advise that the AHTR is:
- mandatory for SIRA approved allied health practitioners because it is a condition of approval to deliver services in the NSW workers compensation scheme
- optional for non SIRA approved allied health practitioners
- optional for practitioners requesting approval of treatment for people with a severe injury or an exempt worker.
- When it takes effect
We understand from June 2024, the Allied Health Treatment Request (AHTR) replaces the Allied Health Recovery Request (AHRR). The form becomes mandatory for use in December 2024.
- Insurer time frames for responding to a AHTR
In their release SIRA have affirmed the standard time frames for an insurer to respond to a treatment request via an AHTR being:
- A decision must be made within 21 days after receiving a treatment
request. - A decision must be made within 5 working days after receiving a
treatment request, otherwise it is automatically approved, in the
following circumstance:- a SIRA approved allied health practitioner requests treatmentwithin 3 months of the injury or illness (physical or psychological) and
- the injury or illness (physical or psychological) has not been treated previously by an allied health practitioner from the same health professional group as the requesting allied health practitioner.
- Questions about access to physiotherapy?
If you have any questions about access to physiotherapy in relation to a workers compensation claim in NSW please reach out to the Walker Law Group for assistance.
