What is Massage Therapy? Massage therapy involves a range of manual techniques applied to the soft tissues and joints of the body. The purpose of a Registered Massage Therapist is to relieve pain, maintain, rehabilitate and improve physical function. It is a clinically oriented health option that achieves excellent results for discomforts stemming from stress, muscular overuse and many chronic pain syndromes.

Massage therapy has something to offer everyone from the stressed executive, to students, laborers, stay at home moms, musicians, professional and amateur athletes to anyone who needs treatment for an injury, prevention care or pure indulgence of relaxation.

Kamloops Optimal Health Clinic takes pride in operating in a clinical therapeutic setting. It is the responsibility of the Massage Therapist to ensure a patient has a proper assessment during their first and subsequent appointments. This assessment if performed before any treatment can be delivered; it can also be done during the treatment and after the treatment. Assessment is a vital part of every visit, used to evaluate progress and to direct the therapist in effective treatment. The initial appointment is 60 minutes, this allows for a slightly longer assessment time to establish a baseline.

Patients eligible for coverage from MSP are no longer required to have a doctor’s referral to access coverage. For premium assistance patients (income of less than $28,000) coverage includes up to 10 treatments per calendar year combined with chiropractic, physiotherapy, naturopathy and non-surgical podiatry. MSP will allow 10 visits annually to be shared, however necessary, between massage, physiotherapy and chiropractic treatment. MSP advises clinics to verify coverage on each date to ensure eligibility. Patients with MSP coverage will pay the applicable private rate and your therapist will fill out a MSP card for you that is to be sent in. You will receive a reimbursement of $23.00 per treatment from MSP in the mail.

First Nation patients that have MSP premium assistance, MSP coverage includes up to 10 treatments as above per calendar year. Please refer to the paragraph above for more information the same procedure as above applies.

*Please keep track of your visits if you are using your MSP coverage elsewhere. Remember, only 10 shared visits.

ICBC requires that a patient must first have a doctor’s referral, ICBC decides on coverage. Kamloops Optimal Health Clinic will consider a patient to be at our private rates, until we receive verbal confirmation from ICBC. With positive confirmation, it is ICBC’s policy to cover 12 visits or 8 weeks of massage therapy (whichever comes first) from the Date of MVA. During this period, ICBC will allow Kamloops Optimal Health Clinic to bill them directly for a portion of each therapy visit. Receipts issued should be retained if a patient wishes to discuss reimbursement with ICBC. If a patient receives an extension with ICBC coverage for massage therapy, it is ICBC’s policy that the patient must pay the total cost upfront and submit receipts for reimbursement from ICBC. Any exception to this rule is at ICBC’s discretion only.

The therapists at Kamloops Optimal Health Clinic are all Registered Massage Therapists and therefore the services provided here will be covered by extended medical plans that cover massage therapy. To date, all extended medial plans have a policy that does not allow therapy clinics to directly bill them for a patient’s visits. Extended medical policies state that the patient must pay upfront and then send in receipts for reimbursement.