Dietitian guidelines

These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the information at Working with the TAC.

Who can provide dietetic services?

You can provide services if you are a dietitian who is qualified and accredited with the Dietitian Association of Australia (DAA).

What we can pay for

Within the first 90 days of a client’s accident, we can help pay for dietetic treatment or services without the need for you or the client to contact us for approval first. The treatment or service must be recommended by a health professional, related to the client’s accident injuries and delivered in line with the Clinical Framework.

If you intend to continue treating a TAC client beyond 90 days after their transport accident you must complete an Allied Health Treatment and Recovery Plan or a letter or email to request further approval. We will review our client’s treatment to ensure it’s reasonable, clinically justified, outcome focused and in line with the Clinical Framework. We will assess your request and let you and the client know our decision about what we can help pay for and for how long.

If our client has not received treatment in 6 months they will need to seek approval from us before we will pay for further treatment. Ask our client for a copy of their approval if you haven’t seen them in 6 months.

For details see What we can pay for and How to seek TAC approval.

Patient consultations

We can help pay for dietetic consultations and weight loss and weight management treatment and services that are clinically justified by a medical practitioner where:

significant weight gain has occurred as a direct result of transport accident injuries
the patient is unable to independently maintain their pre-accident weight due to transport accident injuries.

For an at-risk patient whose dietary requirements cannot be satisfied by a normal diet because of the transport accident injury/condition, we can help pay for continued management of special food and special food formula prescribed by a medical practitioner, hospital or provider of a hospital service. This may include:

a woman whose transport accident injuries prevent her from breastfeeding, or
a baby/infant who cannot be breastfeed because of his/her transport accident injury/condition

Travel

We can help pay for travel to conduct treatment in the community, where this is clinically justified.

Travel time can be paid for travel to and from your practice address and your patient's residence. Where more than one patient is visited in a single travel period, total travel costs should be apportioned equally between patients.

Other things to note

Medical excess

For accidents that occurred prior to 14 February 2018 a medical excess may apply. Visit the medical excess page to see if it applies to your patient. If the medical excess applies you will need to invoice the client directly.

Patients with a severe injury

If your patient has a severe injury, the discussion, referral and approval of services may form part of the independence planning process between the patient's treating team and our TAC coordinator.

If your patient already has an individualised funding package, dietetic services may be included as part of that.

How much we can pay

We can pay for services in line with our Dietitian fees.

If your fee is higher than our fee, you may choose to charge the client the difference in the form of a gap payment.

What we cannot pay for

We cannot pay for:

treatment and services for cosmetic reasons
weight loss programs or food/meal replacement services, such as home delivered meal services like Lite 'n Easy, or commercial weight loss programs such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Optifast
everyday conventional food and drink that is required to be prepared in a modified form for the client, including food to be prepared for a soft diet or food that will be vitamised or thickened

Also see general items we cannot pay for.

For more information

Access our policies for Allied health and physical therapies and Dietitians and weight management.


Dietitian guidelines These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the information at Working with the TAC. Who can provide dietetic services? You can provide services if you are a dietitian who is qualified and accredited with the Dietitian Association of Australia (DAA). What we can pay for Within the first 90 days of a client’s accident, we can help pay for dietetic treatment or services without the need for you or the client to contact us for approval first. The treatment or service must be recommended by a health professional, related to the client’s accident injuries and delivered in line with the Clinical Framework. If you intend to continue treating a TAC client beyond 90 days after their transport accident you must complete an Allied Health Treatment and Recovery Plan or a letter or email to request further approval. We will review our client’s treatment to ensure it’s reasonable, clinically justified, outcome focused and in line with the Clinical Framework. We will assess your request and let you and the client know our decision about what we can help pay for and for how long. If our client has not received treatment in 6 months they will need to seek approval from us before we will pay for further treatment. Ask our client for a copy of their approval if you haven’t seen them in 6 months. For details see What we can pay for and How to seek TAC approval. Patient consultations We can help pay for dietetic consultations and weight loss and weight management treatment and services that are clinically justified by a medical practitioner where: significant weight gain has occurred as a direct result of transport accident injuries the patient is unable to independently maintain their pre-accident weight due to transport accident injuries. For an at-risk patient whose dietary requirements cannot be satisfied by a normal diet because of the transport accident injury/condition, we can help pay for continued management of special food and special food formula prescribed by a medical practitioner, hospital or provider of a hospital service. This may include: a woman whose transport accident injuries prevent her from breastfeeding, or a baby/infant who cannot be breastfeed because of his/her transport accident injury/condition Travel We can help pay for travel to conduct treatment in the community, where this is clinically justified. Travel time can be paid for travel to and from your practice address and your patient's residence. Where more than one patient is visited in a single travel period, total travel costs should be apportioned equally between patients. Other things to note Medical excess For accidents that occurred prior to 14 February 2018 a medical excess may apply. Visit the medical excess page to see if it applies to your patient. If the medical excess applies you will need to invoice the client directly. Patients with a severe injury If your patient has a severe injury, the discussion, referral and approval of services may form part of the independence planning process between the patient's treating team and our TAC coordinator. If your patient already has an individualised funding package, dietetic services may be included as part of that. How much we can pay We can pay for services in line with our Dietitian fees. If your fee is higher than our fee, you may choose to charge the client the difference in the form of a gap payment. What we cannot pay for We cannot pay for: treatment and services for cosmetic reasons weight loss programs or food/meal replacement services, such as home delivered meal services like Lite 'n Easy, or commercial weight loss programs such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Optifast everyday conventional food and drink that is required to be prepared in a modified form for the client, including food to be prepared for a soft diet or food that will be vitamised or thickened Also see general items we cannot pay for. For more information Access our policies for Allied health and physical therapies and Dietitians and weight management.