Back(Monday 12 September 2016) Victoria’s workers compensation scheme must be recalibrated to ensure that complex claims are resolved in a fair and timely manner, a Victorian Ombudsman investigation has found.
Tabling the Investigation into the management of complex workers compensation claims and WorkSafe oversight today, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass said that while the workers compensation scheme is operating well in the vast majority of cases, the current system fails some particularly vulnerable people.
“The overall system is not broken, but the problems we identified in complex cases – some 20 per cent of the overall claims – go beyond a few isolated examples of bad behaviour. They cannot simply be explained away as a few bad apples spoiling the barrel,” said Ms Glass.
WorkSafe underwrites the Victorian workers compensation scheme with claims management functions outsourced to private insurers. During the investigation period the agent insurers for Worksafe were Allianz, CGU, Gallagher Bassett, Xchanging and QBE. The system currently incorporates a series of financial incentives for agents, including when claims are terminated or workers return to employment.
The investigation examined complex and often extended claims across different industries, roles and injuries (both mental and physical) to assess whether:
- agents unreasonably denied liability or terminated claims
- agents took such actions in order to obtain financial rewards available under the contract with Worksafe
- Worksafe provides effective oversight of the agents and their claims management processes.
Key recommendations from the investigation call for a review of dispute resolution processes within the system and improvements in oversight of complex claims by WorkSafe.
“We found agents cherry-picking evidence to support a decision to reject or terminate a claim – as little as one line in a medical report – while disregarding overwhelming evidence to the contrary. We found Independent Medical Examiners (IMEs) – whose opinions agents use to support their decision making on compensation – receiving selective, incomplete or inaccurate information.”
The investigation attracted significant public interest after it was launched, with dozens of workers and others involved in the system contacting the Victorian Ombudsman to offer assistance or make submissions.
The investigation involved detailed reviews of claims across all five agents. A random sample of agent email records was examined and interviews conducted with injured workers and their families, executives from the five agents and former agent staff. Stakeholders including the Accident Compensation Conciliation Service, the Australian Medical Association, the Police Association of Victoria and the Community and Public Sector Union made submissions.
“WorkSafe has begun addressing many of these issues, and we have already seen improvements since my investigation began in 2015, but this work must go on. The cases we investigated are not merely files, numbers or claims; they involved people’s lives, and the human cost should never be forgotten,” said Ms Glass.
Source: Victorian Ombudsman
