Working with us as a rongoā Māori practitioner
Find out how to register with ACC as a rongoā Māori practitioner, how we pay for rongoā Māori services, and how our kiritaki (clients) can access these services.
On this page
Provider quick guide: Rongoā Māori practitioner
This quick guide has information for rongoā Māori practitioners providing rehabilitation and healing services to our kiritaki (clients) with covered injuries.
He ringa nā Rongo, he ringa nā te aroha.
The hands of peace are the hands of love.
How our kiritaki can use rongoā Māori
Kiritaki with a covered injury, including a maternal birth injury, can ask us to pay for rongoā Māori as part of their rehabilitation. They can request this through their ACC Recovery team member or contact us:
Phone 0800 101 996
Email claims@acc.co.nz
We’ll talk to them about how their injury is affecting them and how they expect rongoā will help. Kiritaki don’t need a referral from a treatment provider, although clinicians may choose to support their request.
We don't refer our kiritaki to a specific practitioner for rongoā Māori services. If a request to access to rongoā Māori is received from a kiritaki, they need to tell us which practitioner they would like to see. We must approve their request before they can start with rongoā Māori rehabilitation.
How we pay for rongoā Māori
We’ve looked at our approach to kaupapa Māori and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) to see how we can improve our services and safeguard traditional Māori customs and practices.
Rongoā Māori as social rehabilitation
We pay for rongoā Māori under the other social rehabilitation category. The Accident Compensation Act allows us to pay for a wide range of social rehabilitation services. These are separate from treatment. This is why you'll hear us refer to rongoā as rehabilitation and not treatment.
Social rehabilitation services aim to rehabilitate and improve the functional capability of our injured kiritaki, to help them return to independence. Independence can include:
- carrying out daily tasks
- participating in education
- contributing to whānau and community.
Only professions defined as treatment providers in the Accident Compensation Act can provide treatment. Where appropriate, we can consider rongoā Māori services as social rehabilitation. Rongoā Māori may be used in conjunction with treatment or other rehabilitation, depending on the needs of each kiritaki.
We're changing our processes and developing guidance to help our people use the correct framework and make the right decisions about requests for rongoā Māori.
Rongoā Māori services for maternal birth injuries
We now also fund rongoā Māori under a contract for practitioners working with kiritaki with a covered maternal birth injury.
This contract is an example of our ongoing mahi to improve equity and access to traditional healing and rehabilitation for whānau Māori and expanding its availability for kiritaki generally.
This is an optional contract. Rongoā Māori practitioners do not have to sign up to the contract to deliver care for a covered birth injury claim, they may instead choose to work with māmā (mothers) under the social rehabilitation framework. The contract enables practitioners to deliver up to 16 initial sessions without preapproval, instead of four sessions under social rehabilitation. Wānanga is also funded under this contract, unlike within the social rehabilitation pathway.
To sign up to the Maternal Birth Injuries Contract, rongoā Māori practitioners will first need to be registered as an ACC rongoā Māori vendor. Additional provider registration and application forms are required for the Maternal Birth Injuries Contract – these are outlined below:
- ACC8429 Rongoā Provider Registration form
- ACC8428 Rongoā Māori Annual Declaration form
- Any additional forms eg ACC Children’s Worker Safety Check forms
These forms are available in the contract application documents on the Government Electronic Tenders (GETS) website.
Rongoā Māori Services for Maternal Birth Injuries GETS notice
Paying rongoā Māori practitioners
For social rehabilitation services:
For rongoā Māori delivered as social rehabilitation, we pay using one-off agreements. You must register with us as a vendor so that you can invoice us for approved services.
We’ll support the cost of rongoā Māori services up to a maximum amount. We expect you to charge your normal rates for rongoā Māori services. In some cases, we may pay part of the cost rather than paying the full amount.
The number of hours we’ll approve is on a case-by-case basis, according to the social rehabilitation needs of each kiritaki. This depends on the complexity of their injury and the rehabilitation outcome that they’re wanting to achieve.
If kiritaki initially request a small number of sessions, they can request more if they need more rehabilitation. This may require a practitioner to complete an ACC74256 Rongoā Hauora report.
For maternal birth injury services:
Practitioners working under the Maternal Birth Injuries Contract will invoice ACC using the relevant service item codes set out in the service schedule.
The service schedule includes what we will pay for and includes:
- whakawhanaungatanga (building connections and relationships)
- whitiwhiti kōrero (support and advice)
- wānanga (group sessions)
- mirimiri and romiromi (bodywork)
- hōmiri (sound healing).
This can be up to 16 sessions for a covered birth injury before needing to submit an ACC8427 Rongoā Māori Assessment form.
How to work with us
There are currently no qualification requirements for rongoā Māori practitioners. We’re continuing our work on our governance processes and how we can expand our contract offerings with practitioners in the future.
All health and disability service providers in Aotearoa, including rongoā Māori practitioners, must follow the Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights code.
Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights
Register to work with us
You must register with us as a vendor to provide rongoā Māori services to kiritaki.
As part of your registration, we need you to complete a 'Tell us about yourself' form.
This form will ask you for:
- the whakapapa (genealogy) of your mātauranga (knowledge)
- evidence of support for the services you provide from mana whenua (tribal authority) of the rohe (region) you work in
- endorsement from your rongoā mentor that supports your practice and lived experience
- details relating to a Police check.
Watch this short video to walk you through the registration process.
What you need to do to register:
- Complete the ACC111 vendor registration form (either online or via email)
- Register online as an ACC vendor
- Download the form and email it to us:
Register as a vendor or supplier (ACC111)
- Complete the ACC7425 Tell us about yourself form and email it to us.
- Complete the Police Vetting Consent Form (page 3 & 4) available online at New Zealand Police Forms and Guides.
Once we receive your forms, we'll review and validate your ability to deliver rongoā Māori. We may audit registered vendors at any time.
Overview of the registration process
You can contact us with questions about your registration:
Email registrations@acc.co.nz
Register for the Maternal Birth Injuries contract
Once you’re a registered rongoā Māori vendor, there are separate forms you need to complete if you want to sign up to the contract.
These are all included in the contract application documents on the Government Electronic Tenders (GETS) website. Please note, you will need to register for GETS to apply. Registration is free.
Rongoā Māori Services for Maternal Birth Injuries GETS notice
Rongoā Māori Services for Maternal Birth Injury contract checklist
Working with us
To support you in working with us, we have developed some practical resources that cover what you need to know about providing rongoā services to ACC kiritaki.
Watch our onboarding video to become familiar with our processes and approaches.
Rongoa Practitioner Handbook
Our handbook Mahi Tahi – Working Together is a customised guide for rongoā Māori practitioners, covering important and practical information about working with us, including invoicing, our expectations and policies, and who to contact if you need support.
Before you work with kiritaki
We make decisions about funding requests for rongoā Māori on a case-by-case basis. Before you start to work with kiritaki, please first confirm:
- they have a covered injury
- their need for rongoā relates to that injury and not another condition
- if providing services as social rehabilitation, that you have received a Purchase Order from our Recovery team confirming details of the approved rongoā Māori sessions.
You can check if care for the injury of the kiritaki is funded by emailing us. Send your enquiry with your vendor ID and the name and date of birth of the kiritaki to:
Email claims@acc.co.nz
If kiritaki want to access rongoā Māori services before we accept their claim, they’ll have to pay for it themselves.
Providing the service
Once you have registered and provided the agreed number of sessions, you can send your invoice to us:
Email providerinvoices@acc.co.nz
Overview of the purchase order process
Providing rongoā Māori services (ā-kanohi and via Telehealth) via TelehealthProviding services via Telehealth
Information you must report as part of kiritaki care
If you are providing services as other social rehabilitation, we need you to report information about the outcomes achieved from rongoā Māori, using the Rongoā Hauora report. This report should be sent to us at the completion of approved sessions, and if you're requesting further sessions. This information will help us to build a clearer understanding of the value these services provide to kiritaki. If you don’t share the outcomes, our data will only show the cost of rongoā Māori, rather than the benefits.
The Hauora report will help you share information on:
- progress towards the rehabilitation goals of the kiritaki
- any extra benefits or complexities you observe
- the modalities or techniques you’ve used, eg mirimiri
- the number of sessions you’ve provided.
Rongoā Hauora report (ACC7426)
Rongoā Māori to support wellbeing for ACC kaimahi
In 2022, ACC began offering rongoā Māori as a service to support the wellbeing of ACC kaimahi. ACC-registered practitioners provide this service to our kaimahi across the motu.
More information is available in the handbook or in our FAQs resource.
We’ll keep on working to improve Māori services
Our operational guidance is designed to help our Recovery team members, make accurate and consistent decisions about requests for rongoā Māori.
Our Māori Health team is working to increase access and services for kiritaki Māori. A key part of this mahi involves working with rongoā Māori practitioners to learn from outcomes achieved from rongoā Māori and how to improve our approach to these services.
Contact us
If you have questions about rongoā Māori at ACC, complete the form below.