Reinsurance group Swiss Re is pushing for rehabilitation in claims management and other innovative ways to get employees back to work to recover post-injury.
The group is encouraging the life insurance industry to adopt a multi-faceted approach to claims management.
An AIA report found last year that increased mental health issues could diminish business productivity but rehabilitation and early intervention programs could play a role in reducing losses.
Employees returning to work could contribute as much to recovery as time off, SuperFriend chief executive Margo Lydon said. SuperFriend prepared the report in conjunction with AIA.
Swiss Re agrees with this position, with its 2012 study ‘UK Claims Watch' finding 89 per cent of life insurers wanted rehabilitation to play a larger role in claims management over the next five years.
"What we would like to see is more focus on getting people back to work to recover, or ‘back to life'", Swiss Re's head of life & health, Australia and New Zealand Helen Troup, said.
"This requires support from the industry through day-to-day rehabilitation case management, product design and projects targeting specific conditions such as mental health."
According to Employers Mutual, once an injured worker is off work for four-to-12 weeks, they have a 10-40 per cent risk of still being off work at one year, and may never return to work after a one-to-two year absence.
The Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine agreed, saying long-term work absence, work disability and unemployment can have harmful effects.
