TAC and Ambulance Victoria work to make life easier for injured Victorians

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14 Dec 2016

A new partnership between Ambulance Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission will make life easier for thousands of Victorians hurt on the roads each year.

From today (December 12), nearly 15,000 Victorians requiring ambulances after transport accidents each year will have their ambulance costs covered by the TAC without having to lodge a claim.

TAC chief executive officer Joe Calafiore said the agreement, reached last week, was part of a major TAC effort to cut red tape for Victorians injured in transport accidents

“Worrying about who is going to pay the bills should be the last thing on people’s minds when they are trying to recover from injuries following a crash,” Mr Calafiore said.

The agreement with Ambulance Victoria is the first step in a TAC system overhaul that will, pending client consent, see data shared across all agencies within the trauma system.

“We are working with Ambulance Victoria and some of the state’s trauma hospitals to support a real time exchange of information that will result in easier, more immediate access to TAC benefits,” Mr Calafiore said.

“By having their claim lodged automatically, we are creating a better system for injured Victorians and letting them focus on getting their lives back on track,” Mr Calafiore said.

The TAC is in the process of putting in place similar agreements with organisations across the health network.

“As we work to replicate this model across the trauma system, the burden of lodging claims and providing information to multiple agencies will be replaced with a far more user-friendly system,” Mr Calafiore said.

Presently, Ambulance Victoria bills anyone requiring an ambulance after a crash if they fail to lodge a TAC claim within eight weeks.

Ambulance Victoria chief executive officer Tony Walker welcomed the new arrangements.

“This new process will deliver efficiencies for both TAC and Ambulance Victoria, allowing for improved information flows and removing duplication of effort between TAC and Ambulance Victoria.

“More importantly, these changes will allow injured Victorians the peace of mind that they will not receive an AV invoice because they had not completed a TAC claim.”

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