Is Injury Management Included in Your Workers Compensation Insurance Quote?

When an employee gets injured and you need to make a workers compensation claim, it can be a major disruption to your business – and cause your insurance premiums to rise.

Careful and professional injury management can help the injured person get the best care and return to work as quickly as possible, while minimising impact on the business.

Injury management specialists can examine new claims, provide advice on sensitive or complex matters, co-ordinate the claims process, help assess medical reports, identify claims requiring a second opinion, attend file reviews and settlement conferences and help minimise costs.

In Western Australia – where the corporate insurance market provides workers compensation cover – some quality brokers such as EBM offer an injury management service free of charge to clients.

When you get a workers compensation insurance quote, it’s worth checking whether you are also getting access to professional injury management services. Here are some real-life case studies that illustrate how quality injury management can make a difference:

Case study 1 – a faster return to workMr A, who lives in the country, hurt his right arm in mid-December and required surgery to be able to get back to work. He was given a list of specialists to contact but the first available appointment was not until February. EBM’s injury management specialists managed to get an appointment in Perth, within two days, arrange insurer approval, flights and accommodation – and tentatively schedule a surgery date the day after the initial consultation.

The result? Mr A only had to travel to Perth once, and was able to return to work more than six weeks earlier than would otherwise have been possible.

Case study 2 – reducing costsMr B severely injured his knee, requiring surgery and lengthy rehabilitation. The insurer incorrectly calculated his compensation rate at over $2000 a week for an indefinite period. EBM’s injury management team reviewed the claim and realised the insurer had made an error – Mr B was actually only entitled to just over $1000 a week for the first 13 weeks, and about $880 a week thereafter.

The result? The cost of the claim was more than halved.

Case study 3 – reducing claims reserveA claims reserve is an amount of money set aside for the eventual payment of a claim. EBM reviewed eight claims that one of its clients had underway at the same time.

Following our review, the insurer agreed to reduce the reserves by more than $150,000 – substantially reducing the client’s workers compensation premiums.

If you’d like a workers compensation quote, contact the team at EBM Insurance Brokers.

The above advice is general advice and has not taken into account your personal circumstances, be sure to read the appropriate Product Disclosure Statement to ensure the policy meets your individual circumstances.