Abstract
BackgroundIn 2012, the Australian state of New South Wales passed legislation that reformed its workers’ compensation system. Section 39 introduced a five-year limit on income replacement, with the first affected group having their benefits cease in December 2017. There is limited evidence on how this will affect their healthcare service use and where they will go for financial support.MethodsMultiple data sources will be linked: administrate workers’ compensation claims data from the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), universal health insurance data from the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), state hospital and emergency department data, and social welfare data from the Department of Social Services’ Data Over Multiple Individual Occurrences (DOMINO). An estimated 4,125 injured workers had their benefits cease due to Section 39. These will form the exposure group who will be compared to 1) a similar group of workers’ compensation claimants who have had at least two years of compensated time off work but whose benefits did not cease due to Section 39; and 2) a community comparison group drawn from state hospital and emergency department records.An accredited third party will link the data, which will be accessible only via secure virtual machine. Initial analyses will compare the prevalence and incidence of service use across groups in both the year before and year after benefit cessation; the community control will be assigned the median benefit cessation date in lieu of an actual date. To estimate the impact of benefit cessation due to Section 39, we will conduct time series analysis of the prevalence and incidence of service use.DiscussionThis study will provide much-needed evidence on the consequences of long-term benefit cessation, particularly on subsequent healthcare and welfare service use.
Highlights
In 2012, the Australian state of New South Wales passed legislation that reformed its workers’ compensation system
In Australia, only 12% of workers’ compensation claims have periods of work disability exceeding six months, yet these claims account for 76% of all compensated time off work [2]
This study aims to quantify the transition of injured workers in the Australian state of New South Wales to alternative income and healthcare services after the cessation of long-duration income replacement payments from workers’ compensation
Summary
In 2012, the Australian state of New South Wales passed legislation that reformed its workers’ compensation system. Developed nations including the United States, Canada and Australia have dedicated state or provincial workers’ compensation insurance schemes for periods of shortterm work disability. These provide injured workers with financial support and funded medical care. Welfare benefits are typically means-tested and factor in family/spouse income, whereas workers’ compensation schemes are typically based on the wages of the injured worker Those with long periods of work disability may “fall between the cracks” of the social safety net when their workers’ compensation benefits end and find themselves without an ongoing means of financial support, or become dependent on alternative systems that are both less generous and more difficult to access [6]
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