The proportion of ACC elective surgery review decisions going in favour of the patient has been increasing.
The ACC review of elective surgery decision making, published recently, points out this has been a trend since early last year.
In the time from July 2010 to March this year reviews of elective surgery decisions favoured the client at an average rate of 44% compared with 25% for other types of reviews, the report stated.
In 2010, ACC approved 78% of surgery and declined 22%.
Two years earlier the percentage of applications declined was half that, at 11%.
The report said spinal injuries had a relatively high decline rate overall, showing a 40% to 50% decline rate for those aged between 51 and 65 years and the rate was higher for those aged over 65.
In the last year, concern has been expressed about some of ACC's surgery decision-making.
Surgeons and patients have spoken out about procedures being declined on the grounds that there was existing degenerative disease or that the condition was age-related.
This financial year, to the end of April, the overall claims statistics show that 31% of all 5643 ACC claims decisions which have been reviewed have gone in the patient's favour.
Findings in the majority of cases (68%) were in ACC's favour and the remaining 1% the decisions were modified.
An ACC spokeswoman said these percentages could change when the full year results were known later this year.
The corporation expects it will handle an estimated 1.5 million claims this year.
"When handling that many claims, it's inevitable that some people will be unsatisfied with the decision made about their claim and they have the right to have that decision independently reviewed by Dispute Resolution Services Ltd if they choose," the spokeswoman said.
The average time taken for all reviews last financial years was 180 days, but more than a quarter were completed within 90 days, ACC said.
The length of time taken could depend on the complexity of the case, necessary adjournments for advice gathering and participants' availability.
