Let the Games Begin...
Let The Games Begin
Lots of moving and shaking in compo this week. icare has announced the selection of claims service providers for Workers Compensation. Their Linkedin post on 6th October 2022 states:
“After a comprehensive tender process, icare has selected Allianz, DXC, Employers Mutual Limited (EML), Gallagher Bassett (GB), GIO and QBE to manage claims for the Nominal Insurer scheme, subject to contract execution. This is the next step in a major reset that will improve outcomes for injured workers, give employers greater choice of providers, and increase financial sustainability over time.”
Firstly, congratulations to the tender winners and to the many humans who have spent countless hours in preparing the documents. Not an easy feat.
I’m was so glad to have seen this announcement that I immediately started writing this article. There have been whispers amongst our community, and now ta-da! Here is it - Allianz, DXC, EML (oh my!), GB, GIO and QBE (oh my!). It’s time to start updating my case manager contact list.
“icare CEO and Managing Director, Richard Harding said our aim is to lift competition between providers to drive improved performance and better care for injured workers.”
A competition! Who doesn’t enjoy a competition? Admittedly, I was a bit of a smarty-pants and commented on icare’s post, “Let the games begin.” Though, in the time between writing and publishing this article, it appears as though my comment along with some others have disappeared...a glitch in the matrix?
Agreed though, competition is good for our industry, and I do hope lifting competition achieves all of the things, for all of the people. Competition could also bring out the worst in humans...
For many years, the NSW workers compensation system has been the wild west, plagued by poor claims management, service providers behaving badly, and a revolving door of professionals. I heard the attrition rate at one of the scheme agents was 20% per year. To put that in context, for every 100 employees, 20 of them leave every.single.year. Ouch!
“Improving outcomes for injured workers is the top priority for icare and when it comes to supporting those with psychological injuries it’s important to understand the vastly different challenges they face,” Mr Harding said.
It’s great icare has announced that their top priority is improving outcomes for injured workers. I’m glad we’ve cleared this up, especially for those whose top priority lay elsewhere. Improving outcomes for injured workers benefits our industry, and our society.
With this announcement and the one in partnership with Australian Rehabilitation Providers Association (ARPA) for Workplace Facilitated Discussions, icare have finally (finally) acknowledged the need for specialist support and rehabilitation for those with psychological injury. Yes, they do face vastly different challenges. There is already a stigma attached to workers compensation, just saying the words out loud invokes a scrunched-up face of disgust by most members of the public. And, because having just the one stigma of being on workers compensation is not enough, for those who have a psychological injury, there is the bonus stigma of having also being diagnosed with a…psychological injury. With this acknowledgement and focus on psychological injury, I hope never to hear the words, “don’t open up the psychological can of worms” uttered ever again. For infinity, no returns.
“Four of the six claims providers will provide specialist psychological claims capability with skilled and experienced case managers dedicated to managing psychological claims. We will also be publishing performance results, which will drive competition and make it easier for businesses to choose the claims providers who can give their injured workers the best care and support to help them return to health and work.”
I’m curious who are the four of six, and I’m even more curious about what are the skills and experiences of these case managers? My technical wish list includes, medical / allied health / health-related background in psychology-related field, previous clinical experience, case management experience and/or workplace rehabilitation experience, and at least three years’ experience in all or most of the above. Although, I would blissfully abandon the technical wish list for an actual human person who has lived in the actual world for a while, who has life experience in a service role or care-giving role, someone who can listen, and someone who easily passes the good human test. It's easy to teach someone technicalities, process and procedures, it’s difficult to teach someone to be a good human.
And look! There’s that word again - competition. Since icare will be releasing performance results, could I make a suggestion that they are clear, easy to read, and simple to translate, please? Transparency, or lack of, is a bit of an issue in our industry, and honestly, no one has time to pour through pages and pages of outcomes data. Personally, I’d like to see a very simple rating scale, maybe like those used in school reports. E= Exceeds Expectations. S= Satisfactorily Meets Expectations, and NI= Needs Improvement. Also a column graph ranking scheme agents against one another and against the average performance would be helpful. Akin to the method Naplan results are reported.
Side note: Since icare made their decision, I have very much enjoyed not receiving the SMS requesting my feedback after every.single.phone.call made to a scheme agent. For someone who calls scheme agents multiple times per day, the messages became quite tiresome.
“This milestone is a part of icare's broader improvement program to enhance workers compensation. It expands on earlier initiatives like:
👨💼 hiring more case managers to enhance support,
🏢 testing a "first response" service for small-to medium-sized businesses that supports early return to work planning, and
💻 introducing a Professional Standards Framework that offers case managers learning and career pathways to further strengthen industry-wide capability, expertise, and capacity.”
Another side note: Emojis are far more pleasing to the eye than dot points or numbered lists.
I’ve always said that the Spirit of the System is great. That’s why I continue to work in compo. It's the reason why I’m critical of the system and of the bad professionals within it. It is also the reason why I celebrate progress and the good professionals within it. Hand on heart, I believe good work can be done, and is being done. Like most industries, we could always do with a few more people, and hiring more case managers to reduce attrition rate and enhance support is a good start. Speaking of hiring, we must also recruit people who possess the attributes to enable to them to thrive in these roles. Compo is not for everyone, and a career in compo needs to be seen as such, a career. We must invest in developing both professional and personal skills, in discovering superpowers, and then empowering the current workforce to lead the next generation. Additionally, our industry must be diverse by design so we can better service the entire community.
Many years ago, scheme agents had a version of what looks like this “first response” service. They engaged workplace rehabilitation upon receipt of lodgment for claim, and expected assessments and a proposed return to work plan to be developed within 72 hours of referral. This was a single service with a quick turnaround, and a worker who required further workplace rehabilitation support would have access through ongoing services. Small-to medium-sized businesses greatly benefited from the immediate support, and it also allowed access to the small business support services which are usually only available within the first 13 weeks of claim. For all you evidence-based practice people out there, research has suggested that early intervention do leads to better outcomes. I know, right?
And finally, the Professional Standards Framework. This is a very sexy looking document with lots of pops of colour and is super easy to read. Copy and paste this document template for when reporting outcomes data. The Professional Standards Framework outlines topics of Positive Connections, Empowered Leadership, Holistic Case Management, Scheme Regulation, Bringing Best Self, and Business Enablers. Reading through the framework much reminded me of SIRA’s retro, circa 2017 motto, “Social Heart, Commercial Mind”. Anyone else remember that? This year, 2022, SIRA has been releasing training for the elements of the framework. If you’re reading this and have done some of the training through Personal Injury Education Foundation (PIEF), please send me a message. I’m super interested in learning more about it.
Always end with optimism.
I think we can do it. It begins with our industry genuinely (no bullshit) wanting to do a better job. It continues with wanting to improve outcomes for the injured workers even if it comes at a cost to our business goals and bottom lines.
It won’t be easy, and we’ll all need to chip in and do our bit. If we do it though, imagine how fucking awesome it would be!
Cheers for now, -Rhea.
My opinions are strong, and held loosely. Let’s chat more.