Sydnie McCrea | Member Services Administrator
When it comes to your mental and physical wellbeing, paramedical services are the perfect way to compliment primary healthcare services.
Looking to take a more holistic approach to your health? Inquire with a naturopath. Struggling with daily tasks? Check in with an occupational therapist. Experiencing pain or tension in your muscles? A massage therapist may help relieve that.
Do I require a prescription for paramedical services?
A very common misconception about paramedical coverage within benefit plans is that a prescription is required for these services. This may be quite difficult for those without a family physician and the thought discourages some people from reaching out all together.
Good news — no prescriptions are required for accessing the majority of paramedical services within the ARTA Extended Health Care benefit plans.
The only instances where you will require prior authorization (including a prescription) is for nursing care or home care. This prior authorization is required for many reasons, such as ensuring the safety of plan members, confirming it is medically necessary, and to protect the long-term sustainability of the benefit plans.
How will I know if my paramedical practitioner is eligible for coverage?
While you don’t require a prescription for most paramedical services, to receive coverage, there is one big rule to be mindful of: Your paramedical practitioner must be licensed, certified or registered under their appropriate regulatory body or college (but not association) and must be providing service within their scope of practice.
What is a scope of practice? As much as we’d love to reimburse our massage therapists for allowing us to share our recent woes in such a relaxing space, counselling is not within their scope of practice as a massage therapist and therefore, this informal counselling session would not be eligible for coverage.
Additionally, while most paramedical practitioners are genuine, reliable and remain professional, there are occasional providers that are involved in unethical behaviours. If a provider is negatively affecting a member's benefits or the coverage provider in some way, they will be delisted. Although you may continue using services from this provider, this means ARTA will not cover any services or products provided by them and it will remain a full out of pocket expense by you.
If you wish to confirm your current paramedical practitioners are eligible for coverage prior to applying to ARTA, we highly recommend contact our Member Servies team at our toll-free number, 1-855-444-ARTA (2782), as businesses may not be forthcoming with this information upon booking.
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What Are Paramedical Services?
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Sydnie is one of ARTA’s Member Services Administrators. With over ten years of customer service under her belt, she is an expert in helping people unravel the intricacies of their health benefit plan.