FNHA Medical Transportation Bulletin
October 2023  |  Vol 02  |  No 9

Welcome! Wytkp! Gilakas’la! Shhweenustham!

We hope you enjoyed the September issue of the Journeys bulletin.

Journeys is now in its second year! Thank you for your readership as we strive to provide helpful content and updates for your community's Medical Transportation (MT) program. We sincerely appreciate your partnership in delivering and transforming the MT benefit.

Remember to complete our Journeys survey for a chance to win a $50 gift card!
For additional information, check out the bottom section.

Increase to Medical Transportation Meal Rates

As of Oct.1, 2023, First Nations Health Benefits and Services (FNHBS) has increased meal rates for clients travelling to medical appointments due to higher food costs in the province. Our goal is to ensure everyone has access to nutritious meal options while receiving medical care away from their home communities.

Effective Oct. 1, 2023, meal rates will increase as reflected in the table below:

For more information, please visit our MT webpage.

Extension to the Temporary Increase in Mileage Rates

The temporary mileage rate of $0.29/km has been extended until March 31, 2024.

FNHBS continues to monitor gas prices across BC to ensure Clients can access medically necessary appointments when using their private vehicles.

Please refer to the table below for the temporary mileage rates and their effective dates:

For more information, please visit our news post here. 

Bringing Kucén to Communities

We are thrilled to announce that in September 2023, the first two community health services organizations have gone live with Kucén (pronounced koo-hen from the Secwepemctsin language) and have begun utilizing the system to process travel arrangements. Since April 2023, the FNHA MT Operations team has successfully utilized Kucén for their travel arrangements. The MT Project Team is working closely with MT Operations and the leading communities to continuously monitor and enhance system effectiveness.

If your community is interested in adopting the Kucén system, we encourage you to participate in our Kucén Survey or contact us at mtproject@fnha.ca.

Reporting Reminder

As a gentle reminder, the April – August 2023 MT Logs are due by October 15, 2023.

Reporting is a requirement of all funding agreements and provides essential information to support FNHA’s decisions about program planning. Community reports serve as a tool to evaluate MT policy and ensure that funding can support the health and well-being of First Nations people living in BC.

To submit your reporting, please upload the files to ShareFile. If you are having difficulties or are unfamiliar with the ShareFile process, please contact the FNHB Funding Arrangements Support Team at FA.Transportation@fnha.ca for support and access.

Please note that communities that adopt the new Kucén administrative system will not be required to complete and submit MT Logs. Kucén will be able to capture the necessary data to replace program reporting and will automate this process!

MT Training for PT Clerks

The MT Operations team hosts regular training sessions throughout the year. If you or any member of your community would like to attend an MT training session, please contact transportation@fnha.ca to sign up. One of our team members will be in touch about training dates and next steps.

Your chance to win a $50 Gift Card!

Help us improve your newsletter experience by sharing your thoughts in our quick, anonymous survey. Your feedback will be used to shape the newsletter content to better meet your needs.

As a token of our appreciation, we will select one lucky participant to receive a $50 gift card. Simply provide your contact details after completing the survey. Your details will remain separate from your survey responses and will not be linked to them in any way. The winner will be selected at the end of the month, so stay tuned!

Click here to complete the Journeys survey:

Thank you