FNHA Medical Transportation Bulletin
December 2023  |  Vol 02  |  No 11

Welcome! Wytkp! Gilakas’la! Shhweenustham!

We hope you enjoyed the November 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. The team within Health Benefits and Services appreciates your partnership in delivering and transforming the MT benefit.

Highlights from our recent survey

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our Journeys survey. All respondents expressed satisfaction with the content, highlighting the following areas as particularly beneficial:

• General MT Benefit Information (e.g. meal/mileage rate updates): 89%
• Policy Updates: 48%
• MT Transformation Project Updates: 41%
• Kucén system progress & Updates: 33%

In response to your feedback, we're committed to delivering more tips and resources, as highlighted by 85% of participants, as well as best practices and policy insights each month.

If you know someone administering the MT Benefit who would benefit from our monthly newsletter, please have them reach out to mtproject@fnha.ca to join our mailing list.

Explore our new Health Benefits factsheets!

We have created brand-new factsheets for each benefit area, aimed at providing Clients with an overview of their Health Benefit plan. You can access and print each informative factsheet from the FNHA website here.

We encourage you to share these resources with your community members, ensuring everyone has awareness of their plan, whom to contact for questions and how to access their benefits.

Recent meal rate changes

As a reminder, First Nations Health Benefits and Services (FNHBS) implemented two recent changes regarding MT meal rates:

1. Oct. 1, 2023: In response to rising food costs, all meal rates were increased.
2. Nov. 1, 2023: In response to valuable community feedback, a weekly meal rate for Clients travelling with an approved escort was introduced at $425 per week. This represents a 50% increase from the previous combined rate of $283 per week.

Current meal rates are reflected as follows:

*Note: The rate of $425 per week is an inclusive rate for the Client and escort and applies only when the Client is an outpatient. An approved escort supporting a Client in the hospital will continue to access the weekly meal rate of $283 per week.

For more information, please visit our news post here. 

Kucén: making MT Benefits easier for your Community

Experience enhanced benefit administration with Kucén (pronounced koo-hen from the Secwepemctsin language), our new travel arrangement system. Kucén goes beyond streamlining arrangements.

Kucén will automatically calculate meal payments for trips based on length of stay and the number of travellers. This enables you to easily administer the enhanced meal rates introduced in November 2023. Please note that specific trips, e.g. those involving a hospital admission, will require you to adjust the payment accordingly.

Communities using Kucén will no longer 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!

If your community is interested in adopting the new system, please participate in our Kucén Survey or contact us at mtproject@fnha.ca. 

MT Benefit Schedule & MT User Guide updates

The MT Benefits Schedule and MT User Guide have been updated to reflect the latest meal rate changes. An up-to-date version of the MT Benefits Schedule is available on our MT webpage. To provide a clearer understanding of the recent changes, we've included additional examples in the MT User Guide. For an updated copy of the MT User Guide, please contact transportation@fnha.ca. 

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.

Looking forward to 2024!

2023 has been a transformative year for the MT Project, with many enhancements made to better serve our clients.

As we approach the new year, please note that MT Operations will be closed on Dec. 25, 26 (Christmas and Boxing Day), and Jan. 1 (New Year's Day).

Our next edition of the Journeys Newsletter is planned for February 2024.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic start to the New Year!

Thank you