It Pays to Care
A drive to promote national discussion about fair and efficient workers compensation schemes.
The Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) are leading the call to improve health and recovery outcomes and reducing barriers to care for people experiencing work injuries.
The AFOEM have developed 2 complementary documents that focus on work injury management:
Bringing evidence-informed practice to work injury schemes (PDF) presents evidence on psychosocial factors as barriers to return to work and how these can be addressed. It offers ways to improve scheme delivery in the 4 central work injury domains of leadership and regulation, case management, the workplace and healthcare.
A values and principles based approach to bringing evidence-informed practice to work injury schemes (PDF) covers the values and principles of healthy insurance schemes.
Snapshot | Why 'it pays to care'
When an injury or medical condition occurs in a compensable setting, the chance of a poor health outcome is significantly higher than for same condition in a non-compensable setting. Work absence and long term disability rates are higher. Being out of work long term is associated with poorer physical and psychological health, and this is more likely in compensable settings. There is a need to reduce work disability and to ensure work injury systems are fit-for purpose.
Evidence indicates improvements will come through:
- systematic capture of psychosocial information for individual claims, with proactive management of biopsychosocial risks
- ensuring that scheme cultures, systems and processes don't create unnecessary barriers to recovery
- scheme operations that are based on the values and principles of fairness, including collaboration, timeliness, trust and reciprocity, personalised and respectful communication, and empowerment of stakeholders.
See It Pays to Care key messages Australia (PDF) to support your advocacy.
Watch Dr Mary Wyatt FAFOEM introduce the policy and discuss why better return to work and recovery outcomes are so important.
Watch the launch | April 2022
Hear different perspectives from speakers in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand on why it pays to care and how you can get involved.
Work injury management in Australia | An imperative for change and call to action
Speakers
| Topic |
Speaker |
| It Pays to Care introduction |
Dr Mary Wyatt FAFOEM, Project Lead
|
Hit me when I'm down: a worker's input on the need for change
|
Sally Clarke — RN, Worker |
The need for change from the provider's perspective
|
Noni Byron — Chair, SSG |
Why policy is the most powerful change lever
|
Professor Alex Collie — Director, Healthy Working Lives Research Group
|
Simple streamlined psychosocial management helps workers and schemes and is long overdue
|
Professor Michael Nicholas — Director, Education & ADAPT Pain Management Program
|
Round up and close
|
Dr Mary Wyatt FAFOEM, Project Lead |
Injury management in Aotearoa New Zealand | Past, present and future
Speakers
| Topic |
Speaker |
| Introduction |
Dr David Beaumont FAFOEM
|
| It Pays to Care |
Dr Mary Wyatt FAFOEM, Project Lead
|
The general practitioner’s perspective
|
Dr Bryan Betty — Medical Director, RNZCGP |
The occupational physician’s perspective
|
Dr Geraint Emrys FAFOEM — Chair, Aotearoa NZ AFOEM Committee |
The third-party administrator perspective
|
Cliff McCord — CEO, Howden Care
|
The employer perspective
|
Terry Buckingham — National Health and Wellbeing Manager, Fonterra
|
ACC perspective
|
Megan Main — CEO, ACC |
Round up and close
|
Dr David Beaumont FAFOEM |