EAPP: starting physiotherapy before the claim decision

EAPP is an arrangement between an employer and a physiotherapy clinic that WorkSafeBC has pre-approved. The employer sets up the partnership in advance, so that when someone is injured there is already a clinic to send them to.

The worker reports the injury and starts a claim as normal. The employer then refers them for an initial assessment with the partner clinic, and the aim is to have that assessment happen within about 72 hours of the injury rather than weeks later. The assessment includes a functional abilities assessment, which is what tells the employer whether modified duties are possible.

WorkSafeBC publishes an authorized EAPP provider list for Metro Vancouver. On the version dated 26 August 2026, Launch Rehab Richmond appears under the Richmond heading, at 130 to 8031 Williams Road.

The other four Launch studios are not on that list. That is a real absence rather than a gap in the document: the same list names other clinics under Burnaby, Coquitlam and New Westminster, so those sections are populated and Launch simply is not in them.

Those four studios accept WorkSafeBC claims in the ordinary way, which covers the great majority of injured workers. EAPP only matters if your employer has a partnership set up, and the list is reissued periodically, so confirm the current position with WorkSafeBC before making plans around it.

This is where the misinformation concentrates. A figure of 16 sessions over six weeks is widely attributed to EAPP, including on this site until September 2026. It appears in no WorkSafeBC source.

What is documented: WorkSafeBC covers the initial assessment, the functional abilities assessment, and ongoing treatment for accepted claims. Once the claim is accepted, the ordinary Physiotherapy Treatment Period applies, which is up to 10 visits or 5 calendar weeks, whichever comes first, with extensions available after that.

Most injured workers do not go through EAPP, and it is not a barrier to being treated. You can book a physiotherapy assessment directly, because physiotherapists in BC are primary contact practitioners and no referral is required.

The clinic can bill the initial assessment to WorkSafeBC even while the claim is pending, and that assessment fee is paid even if the claim is later disallowed. What waits on the decision is the funded treatment period that follows.

The practical move is to book the assessment now rather than waiting for the claim, because the 60-day window from date of injury runs regardless of how long the decision takes.