05 June 2020
Denise Powell
[FYI request #12801 email]
Tēnā koe Denise
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-004813
Thank you for your request of 07 May 2020, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Please provide the full amounts paid to Mr Ray Fong as an individual or as part of a company for
providing his clinical opinion on Acc cases.
1. Please provide these in yearly bands for the years 2009 to 2019 inclusive.
2. Please also list the number of opinions Mr Fong provided in each corresponding year.
Amount paid to Dr Fong
We are declining to provide the full amounts paid to Dr Fong, under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect
his privacy. However, we can advise you that Dr Fong is employed by ACC as a Principal Clinical Advisor,
Clinical Services. The pay band for the Principal Clinical Advisor role is Band 21 (+10%).
We are unable to provide you the pay range for Band 21 for the last 10 years as ACC’s Human Resources
Department does not keep a record of this information dating back that far. However, Table 1 provides
the pay range for 85% to 100% of Band 21 (+10%), for full time staff, as at 1 July for each of the last four
financial years.
Please note that Principal Clinical Advisors are salaried staff. They are not paid on a per assessment
basis.
Table 1. Pay range for Band 21 (+10%), as at 1 July
Financial year
Pay range ($)
Jul 2015 - Jun 2016
183,328 to 215,680
Jul 2016 - Jun 2017
191,272 to 225,027
Jul 2017 - Jun 2018
197,968 to 232,903
Jul 2018 - Jun 2019
199,551 to 234,766
Number of opinions provided in each corresponding year
Table 1 below provides a count of opinions Dr Fong has provided for each of the last 10 financial years
(1 July 2009 to 30 June 2019).
GOV-004813
Table 1. Number of tasks referred to Dr Fong, between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2019
Year
Task count
2009/10
7,506
2010/11
4,692
2011/12
3,594
2012/13
2,186
2013/14
2,423
2014/15
2,026
2015/16
3,163
2016/17
2,633
2017/18
3,034
2018/19
3,803
Notes about the data provided
The following points should be considered when interpreting the data provided:
• Dr Fong is employed to provide a clinical opinion on the likely causation of a condition that is the
subject of an Elective Surgery Funding request to ACC.
• A task is sent to a Clinical Advisor in our Claims Management System, EOS, when a Case Owner
who is deciding whether ACC should fund such a request, considers that the causation of the
condition that requires treatment may not meet ACC’s legal threshold.
• The number of these tasks referred to Dr Fong is a proxy for the number of opinions Dr Fong
may have provided.
• Dr Fong may provide more than one clinical opinion for an individual funding request.
• A financial year is 1 July to the following 30 June.
• The data was extracted on 13 May 2020 and may differ if re-run at a later date.
How to contact us
If you have any questions, you can email me at
[email address]. Nāku iti noa, nā
Sasha Wood
Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement & Support
Accident Compensation Corporation
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