1 CPD Point
IDSS 2025: Care and collaboration count
Those in the personal injury industry, including actuaries, have for many years known that caring counts and now there is an evidence based policy to prove it. Produced by the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the It Pays to Care policy is a follow up to the Health Benefits of Good Work the faculty championed a decade before. Despite the enthusiasm at the time with many signing the consensus statement, return to work (RTW) outcomes across the board nationally have not changed. The It Pays to Care policy paper outlines the reasons that outcomes have not improved across various domains (including psychosocial factors, scheme, insurer, employer and medical management) and proposes practical solutions for change starting with promoting a national discussion on the work and collaboration across schemes which is finally making a difference. Associated with the policy, the It Pays to Care national advocacy program which has been running for three years is now receiving Heads of Workers’ Compensation Authorities matched financial support with our original philanthropic funder who emerged from the audience of the original presentation on It Pays to Care given at the 2021 Actuaries’ Conference. We have buy in from regulators, insurers and many other stakeholders. The essence of the success of the It Pays to Care advocacy work is based on one of the fundamental principles of the policy, collaboration. Since the policy’s launch in 2022, we have run a number of symposiums around topics key to the domains that need to be changed to improve outcomes including psychosocial triage, employer influence and mental injury claim prevention and management. As a result of these, many practical solutions have been identified and championed by It Pays to Care working with the industry and relevant stakeholders including government, unions, self-insurers, medical and allied health associations/providers as well as through our partnership with PIEF. Industry has readily engaged with and is calling on It Pays to Care to continue to assist with collaboration and tools to address ongoing challenges of RTW, claims costs/ durations, case manager capability, employer engagement, health practitioner impact, scheme financial viability and the rising cost of mental injury, primary and secondary. Some examples of It Pays to Care work to date with future expansion planned include: - Development and recent launch of a number of resources including psychosocial triage best practice guide with RTWSA, Messaging Matters tool with PIEF and insurers with others underway including CPD accredited training for doctors and employer influencing material for unions and insurers/brokers - Sharing of best practice initiatives from government employers around the country as well as working with government employer entities to embed the principals of It Pays to Care into their claims management practices notably with Tasmania and the Northern Territory - CTP are now wanting to engage similarly as we have done with workers’ compensation with an initial successful symposium recently held highlighting key similar issues across jurisdictions and led by evidence, strategies shared. It Pays to Care is helping to change the field when it comes to the way claims are managed to achieve better results for injured workers and industry players. The old way was liability focus, the new way is to focus on people early (and save as it pays to care) and we see this is gradually happening around the country through our work. People are stepping into this new way, then it becomes a journey of maturity which It Pays to Care is assisting with tools and sharing of ideas and outcomes. The proposed presentation seeks to change the hearts and minds of those who attend. It will outline the evidence based supportive approaches needed to improve return to work, highlight the measures required to monitor the effectiveness of this approach and demonstrate how collaboration and partnerships can deliver results. Key take aways will be provided for conference participants, based on the It Pays to Care work to date, to learn from and apply in their own work to develop the innovative and collaborative solutions needed for change to schemes and importantly outcomes for those injured.
Sharon Stratford
17 November 2025
