The ACC MRI pathways support GPs and nurse practitioners to make direct referrals for MRIs, for patients who have had a course of active physiotherapy.
Accredited GPs can now follow nationally ratified guidelines to refer directly to radiology services for MRI investigations. To gain accreditation to make MRI referrals, GPs and nurse practitioners must attend an in-person education session and complete online learning modules.
As these pathways are still relatively new, oversight continues to be provided by a clinical governance group.
The programme is also supported by a project lead within Pinnacle to ensure it continues to deliver a high-quality service to patients, and that referrers have the support they need to navigate the referral process.
All GP referrals are audited for adherence to guidelines and feedback is provided by auditors to support and develop those referring. Referral patterns and outcomes are continuously monitored and reported to ACC and the Pinnacle board.
Please note this programme of work was previously known as ACC HTI (high tech imaging) and has been renamed by ACC to General Practitioner Referred Magnetic Resonance Imaging aka GPMRI and will be referred to as this moving forward.
Your Pinnacle Services Contract applies to this service. By claiming for this service, you have indicated that you have read and agreed to the business rules set out here.
This is NOT a clinical guideline.
Any Pinnacle practice who has an accredited GP/NP(s) using these referral pathways can claim for this service.
Pinnacle is responsible for providing accreditation (practical training) for GP/NPs to use the ACC GP MRI referral pathways. Their role is also to support referrers and radiology providers through the referral process, to manage service quality through clinical governance and audit functions and reimburse GP/NPs for the services they provide.
GP/NPs must complete practical training in order to be accredited to use these referral pathways. All referrals must be made via Profusion. Outcome data required by the ACC contract must be completed within your PMS. A claim for services provided can be made at the same time as outcome data is provided.
All patients who meet the eligibility criteria of the pathway can have access to this service.
The four clinical pathways can be accessed via the ACC GP MRI toolkit.
Patients who do not meet ALL eligibility criteria for a pathway cannot access this service.
The potential service fee that can be claimed:
Outcomes must be completed by a GP or nurse at the practice. To receive payment for an MRI referral, the outcome needs to be added to the request in Profusion.
If you have any problems processing the outcome for a patient please contact the Profusion helpdesk team on 09 374 6759.
Referral data must be provided as per the referral template in Profusion.
Clinical notes in the form of outcome data template completion is required. (Detailed instructions included in practical training session).
The patient will pay the original consultation fee (ACC). The patient will not be charged for the consultation post imaging which will explain the treatment journey moving forward.
The service is funded by ACC.
Sally Newell, Regional Support Manager - Clinical Contracts
sally.newell@pinnacle.health.nz
021 150 8788
Diagnostic pathways and referral steps for the ACC GP MRI programme.
The ACC MRI pathways support GPs and nurse practitioners to make direct referrals for MRIs, for eligible patients who have had a course of active physiotherapy.
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