Articles tagged under ‘Evidence based policy making’

Articles 1 - 40 of 40

• Determination — In Discussion with Jackie (Part One)

  A person’s 20s are characterised by many ‘firsts’. Milestone experiences in these years (graduations, weddings, babies) will dramatically shape a person’s life course. But for Jackie, her early 20s had a first she couldn’t have anticipated: her first interaction with the workers’ compensation system.

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• The case for legal services research in workers' compensation

  Associate Professor Genevieve Grant argues that the workers' compensation sector needs a more rigorous approach to understanding legal costs and services — similar to what exists in healthcare.

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• Series introduction — Healthcare in work injuries isn’t neutral

  This article launches a fortnightly series that will examine how healthcare delivery in workers' compensation can inadvertently harm the people it aims to help. Over the coming months, we'll explore the evidence in depth.

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• Is healthcare in workers’ compensation a contradiction in terms? — Setting the scene

  Despite being designed to support recovery, low-value healthcare, overtreatment and perverse incentives in our work injury schemes are harming patients instead of helping them.

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• Webinar recording: The Workers' Voice Project — Re-imagining workers’ compensation from a lived experience perspective

  Professor Alex Collie, Director of the Healthy Working Lives Research Group at Monash University, presents research that aims to address the stress and complexity that many injured workers face during the claims process.

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• ‘You’re speaking my language’ — how to translate research into action and real change

  A case study shows how ‘intermediaries’ — like work injury scheme stakeholders — can take the key messages from high-quality evidence and tailor them to improve outcomes in workplaces.

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• Workers’ compensation re-imagined from a lived experience perspective — Part 2

  What would a workers’ compensation scheme designed by people with lived experience of such claims look like? An innovative research study aims to find out.

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• Workers’ compensation re-imagined from a lived experience perspective — Part 1

  What would a workers’ compensation scheme designed by people with lived experience of such claims look like? An innovative research study aims to find out.

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• Webinar recording — Implementing value-based healthcare in personal injury schemes

  In this webinar, Jamie Macdonald discusses SIRA’s approach to implementing value, their key achievements and their priorities for the next 12 months. 

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• Claims intake at WorkCover Queensland — Insights from the introduction of a biopsychosocial framework

  A partnership between researchers and a workers compensation insurer (WorkCover Queensland) is an example of what can be done when evidence informs practice.

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• ‘An epidemic of useless and often harmful care’ — Part 1

  Our standard pathway of care in injury management leads to low value care and over-investigation, over-diagnosis and over-treatment. Dr Mary Wyatt, Occupational Physician, presents some ideas to bridge the gap between current practice and the evidence-base.

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• RTW: from policy to practice. An imperative for change and call to action

  An important policy paper — It pays to care — calls for a conversation about, and action on, how we can work together to improve health and recovery outcomes and reduce the barriers to care for people with work injuries.

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• Case study: Regulator-led case management success

  Evidence from a US jurisdiction shows that top-down reforms can improve RTW outcomes, improving outcomes while reducing costs.

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• A scheme leaders’ approach to turning around RTW

  A conversation with the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA).

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• How to really reassure

  Patient / treater rapport, emotional validation and education backed by experiences that demonstrate the truth of what has been learned bring long-term benefits to patients with back pain, according to spine expert Dr Donald Murphy. Can GPs do it?

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• Webinar recording: Barriers and enablers to healthcare professionals adopting a patient-centered (biopsychosocial) approach.

  Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist Wendy Ng & Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist Tim Mitchell address the issue of the implementation of patient-centered care in clinical practice.

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• Factors influencing return to work outcomes

  Determined to reverse a decline in RTW rates in NSW, SIRA (the State Insurance Regulatory Authority) has examined the evidence around positive influences on RTW and is now exploring ways to optimise outcomes for all stakeholders.

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• To medicalise or over-medicalise

  What’s the difference, and why does it matter in workers’ compensation?

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• Will workers' comp scandals overshadow pervasive human costs?

  Yes, workers' compensation schemes have been poorly managed. Real change will come when there is a supportive approach to improving health and recovery outcomes, with positive leadership focused on long-term benefits not quick fixes.

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• Do you know anyone who has lost work courtesy of COVID-19?

  The COVID-19 Work and Health Study is tracking the impact of the pandemic on those who lose work (i.e. lose their job or have reduced hours) as a result.

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• icare laid bare

  icare engaged with the evidence-base around best practice injury management, and tried to reform NSW workers' comp accordingly. What can we learn from the resulting mess?

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• Ombudsman calls for overhaul of “immoral and unethical” Victorian practices

  New report concludes: “Nothing short of wholesale changes to the system will address the issues identified by both the 2016 investigation and the current one.” Does it go far enough?

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• A new, national approach to RTW

  Safe Work Australia's National Return to Work Strategy shows promise. Will they deliver on the implementation?

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• Mirror, mirror

  “Who’s the fairest?” matters to compensation recipients. Researchers find associations between reduced adversarialism, greater perceived fairness and better health.

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• Common-sense claims processes are on target

  In some jurisdictions, claim lodgement processes have become more user friendly and proactive about early intervention. What are the benefits?

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• 3 x 3 for mental health

  Nine priorities for Australian businesses seeking to prevent harm, promote the positive, and manage mental illness at work

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• Not fit for work

  Why have “fit notes” failed to transform sickness certification in the UK - and what can the UK experience teach us about RTW in Australia?

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• How Dr Wyatt analysed the National Return to Work Survey

  In which we introduce the National Return to Work Survey, describe how Dr Wyatt has analysed the results of the 2013 and 2014 surveys, and draw attention to the difference between correlation and causation.

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• It's what you know (that isn't so) that gets you in trouble

  The American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment were never intended for the just and fair determination of the impact of an injury on a particular person

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• Most Victorian GPs not recommending RTW: study

  A study shows that Victorian GPs are unlikely to recommend alternate duties for injured workers.

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• Return to work research down under - Video interview with Niki Ellis

  Professor Niki Ellis, CEO, talks about the return to work agenda of The Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research

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• A challenge to policy makers

  How much do we know about how different workers' comp systems influence health outcomes? And what could we do with this information?

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• Court between a rock and a hard place

  Some regard the courts as a necessary evil in injury compensation; but how can they be used to foster good?

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• Durable RTW - was life meant to be this hard?

  Why are the numbers of people making return to work more difficult increasing?

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• Tests vs. Symptoms - which wins?

  Is it useful to know the pathology of a wrinkle?

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• Work disability research - why bother?

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• Different states of whiplash

  Epidemiological studies show that whiplash rates vary enormously between jurisdictions. Why?

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• What is evidence based medicine and why do we need it?

  What does "evidence based medicine" refer to exactly, and why should we care to know?

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• Is work good for you? Professor Kim Burton explains the UK's changing answer

  In this interview with UK expert we learn that modern vocational rehabilitation is not about delivering an expensive service.

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• Jos Verbeek on The Cochrane Occupational Health Field

  The Cochrane Occupational Health Field gathers evidence on the effectiveness of occupational health interventions and publishes reviews. RTW Matters spoke with Coordinator Jos Verbeek.

Archived Articles 1 - 13 of 13

• Welfare reform and Gillard's workplace vision

  The Federal Government's plans to tighten access to the disability support pension gives an insight into Government's focus on increasing workforce participation.

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• Helping them help you: upcoming study on RTW coordinator training

  RTW Matters speaks to Joanna Bohatko-Naismith about her study on the adequacy of RTW Coordinator training

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• Cutting off a nose or two won't stop the smell

  How to reduce the national pension bill while improving life for people subject to cuts

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• Discord grows in the UK over work capacity assessments

  World endeavours in disability management - Challenges for the UK with mass assessments of work ability.

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• Viva la WorkHealth!

  What do results from WorkSafe's WorkHealth revolution tell us about worker health--and the effectiveness of the one size fits all approach to workplace intervention?

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• Sunshine state

  Will Queensland's focus on supporting people and fixing processes improve financials in the long term?

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• Aussie consensus sought on health and work

  Can Professor Dame Carol Black persuade unions, business and medical professionals to agree on the health benefits of good work?

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• Is compensation a social determinant of health?

  Socio-economic status, and the ways in which we live and work, all influence health. What about compensation?

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• Occ Physicians launch health, work policy

  Will the Australian government join business, unions and treaters in realising the health benefits of work?

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• The Black report transforms health, work in UK

  The implementation of "Working for a healthier tomorrow" is revolutionising health and work in the UK. What are the key initiatives?

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• South Australia heads north

  The positive spikes in SA's once below-par workers' comp and RTW rates is cause for celebration - and observation. Let's learn from their turnaround.

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• Economic Decline and Workplace Health Initiatives

  Health and the workplace - an international issue

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• Psychology, person injury and rehabilitation

  When a worker is physically injured, it isn't just the body that suffers.

Research 1 - 16 of 16

• 41,000 years lost — the real price of workplace injuries

  A study reveals the staggering impact of workplace injuries and illnesses in Australia.

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• ‘An epidemic of useless and often harmful care’ — Part 2

  Payments for healthcare represent the second largest item of expenditure for Australian workers’ compensation schemes after income replacement. And it’s growing. But what are schemes paying for?

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• Case management survey: caseloads, commitment and self-training

  We share results from the 2021 Return to Work Matters Case Management Survey, completed by more than 60 insurance case managers, RTW Coordinators and rehabilitation professionals.

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• Study probes factors behind poorer health, lower employment in injured workers’ post-claim experience

  New injured worker cohort study at IWH focuses on experiences of workers with long-duration claims of 12-plus months

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• Back pain RTW delayed by poor mental health

  Depression and anxiety delay sustained RTW for workers with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. New mental health problems lead to larger delays than pre-existing problems – and men are more vulnerable to delay than women.

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• Measuring the fairness of IMEs

  In a world first, researchers have launched the Basel Fairness Questionnaire (BFQ), a survey that assesses claimant perceptions of the fairness of medical assessments in compensation systems.

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• NSW success story of early intervention

  Research from NSW shows that early intervention saves money and improves health when it's carefully managed and overseen. Are employers and workers' compensation authorities ready to meet the challenges of implementation in the real world?

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• How to get bang for buck from vocational rehabilitation

  Multi-component vocational rehabilitation programs that intervene early and improve coordination between workers, family members, employers and health care service providers yield better outcomes for all stakeholders.

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• Mirror, mirror

  “Who’s the fairest?” matters to compensation recipients. Researchers find associations between reduced adversarialism, greater perceived fairness and better health.

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• Delay feeds delay

  Early reporting and prompt claim adjudication and payment may reduce the number of workers who have prolonged absence after injury, while delays are a red flag.

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• Putting the "social" back in biopsychosocial

  What does the international evidence say about the impact of compensation systems, health care systems and significant others on workability for people with lower back pain?

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• What is the story, Safe Work Australia?

  Claims are going down but costs are going up. Has safety improved? We dig into the data on trends in Australian workers comp.

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• What's missing from undergraduate occupational medicine tuition?

  We need better approaches to teaching medical students about work, health and occupational medicine.

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• Experimenting with health policy

  Occupational health research IS relevant to policy development: but what kinds of research are best?

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• Canada trains researchers to share the love!

  Disability prevention researchers benefit from collaboration and communication in an innovative Canadian program

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• Welfare-to-work programs

  Are they good policy? Do they work? How can they be improved?