The Government’s Health Insurance Department (HID) has announced changes to the Personal Home Care Benefit which will make it easier to process claims.

Providers will now only need to register with Ageing and Disability Services (ADS) in order to be registered with both ADS and HID, and the revised Personal Home Care Claim form is now the only requirement needed to claim for Personal Home Care Benefits for home care agencies and caregiving providers.

The Personal Home Care Benefit (PHC) was introduced in 2015 as a HIP and FutureCare benefit under the Health Insurance Act 1970, said a Department statement. The Benefit assists FutureCare and HIP policyholders with the costs of personal care services in their home.

Information on the Government website has been changed to make it easier for individuals to obtain information on the Personal Homecare Benefit. The website link is: https://www.gov.bm/personal-home-care-benefit

In addition, several internal processes have been changed to ensure that HID can better service Personal Homecare Benefit applicants as well as adjudicate and pay claims on timely basis, added the statement.

“The old processes required providers to register at both ADS and HID separately,” explained Director of the Health Insurance Department Laquita Burrows. “This caused delay in the provider being set up for payment. The provider also was required to complete two separate claim forms each time they were claiming on the benefit. Information required from the two forms has been combined into one form for providers to complete.”

HID has recently created The Personal Homecare Guide which contains information on individual needs in regards to the Personal Homecare Benefit, whether they are a policyholder, family member and/or provider.

“HID felt that due to the number of inquiries on this product, it would be best to have one guide that contained as much of the information as possible,” said Ms Burrows. “Many providers were submitting incorrect information which was resulting in claim payment delays so HID was looking to reduce providers’ discontent and frustration by putting all they need to know in one place.”

For more information about the HIP and FutureCare Personal Home Care Benefit, members of the public are invited to watch the following video produced by CITV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp4GrPpWxFM&feature=youtu.be or go to https://www.gov.bm/personal-home-care-benefit. The HIP and FutureCare Personal Home Care Benefit Guide can be found there.