FNHA Medical Transportation Bulletin
May 2025

Welcome! Wytkp! Gilakas’la! Shhweenustham!

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

Thank you for your readership and support as we strive to provide helpful content and updates to support your community’s Medical Transportation (MT) Benefits. We appreciate your partnership in delivering and transforming the MT Benefit.

Watch our YouTube video here to learn more about our transformation journey.

Kucén Users: Take part in our feedback survey!

We want to hear from you! If you have been using the Kucén system, please take a few minutes to complete our Kucén User Feedback Survey. Your insights will help us improve training and refine system features to better support your work. The survey is confidential, and responses will be reviewed by the MT Transformation Project team to guide future improvements.

Click here to take the survey.

What is Kucén?

Kucén (pronounced koo-hen), meaning "to wander/travel far away/abroad" in Secwepemctsin, is transforming MT Benefit administration for Patient Travel (PT) Clerks. This system streamlines processes, making it easier to manage requests and documentation.

To support interested communities, the MT Project Team has developed a three-step onboarding process that provides personalized guidance and dedicated support at every stage, ensuring a smooth transition to Kucén.

Why Use Kucén?

• No cost to communities and organizations.
• Automates MT log submissions and MT reports to FNHB.
• Provides a searchable directory for medical and travel providers.
• Generates Purchase Orders, Confirmation of Attendance slips and more!
• Easily submit Exceptions through the application with no manual forms needed.
• The ability to look up a trip that has already been booked.

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

Updated MT mileage rates

First Nations Health Benefits (FNHB) actively monitors gas prices across BC to ensure that changes do not impact Clients' ability to access medically necessary appointments when using their private vehicles. Temporary mileage rate adjustments were first introduced on March 14, 2022, and a full history of MT mileage rate changes can be found here.

In response to the current economic environment, a permanent $0.04/km increase was applied on April 1, 2025. As a result, the standard mileage rate has increased from $0.25/km to $0.29/km, and the special mileage rate for remote communities has increased from $0.31/km to $0.35/km.

The permanent mileage rates are now as follows:

*for remote communities, as specified in their Funding Agreements.

The MT Benefits Schedule has been revised to reflect these changes.

Tip of the month: A Client’s checklist for travel

PT Clerks play a key role in managing travel arrangements; however, Clients also have responsibilities to ensure a smooth travel process, particularly when it comes to submitting the required documentation. To assist your Clients, here is a helpful checklist:

All sample forms can be found at the bottom of the MT webpage. Please remember that these forms should be updated with your community or organization’s contact information so that Clients submit their paperwork to the correct office.

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 contact you about training dates and the next steps.

Thank you