Early intervention needed on insurance claims

Executives agree that early intervention is key to getting people back to work after an accident and in better supporting fund members' mental health.

Speaking about insurance at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) national conference, panellists said early intervention could help return people to work, identify mental illnesses and ultimately and stop the erosion of members' retirement savings.

REST Industry Super has partnered with the Mental Health Foundation to look at mental health issues in the workplace, according to REST chief executive Damien Hill. 

He said the super fund had funded research and was trialling a number of programs.

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Hill said it had also been piloting a rehabilitation program with its insurer for less than a year. The "back-of-envelope-calculations" were very encouraging, according to Hill.

He said the service acted as a value-add for the fund, as small- to -medium employers who did not have the resources or expertise to deal with rehabilitation could hook into the insurer's resources.

Although rehabilitation did not work for everyone, if funds identified those they could assist and acted early, it could save the fund costs and more importantly, avoid eroding members' retirement incomes.

Claire Roberts, general manager wholesale life, CommInsure said claims had increased and the number of people with insurance who did not claim was shrinking.

Mental health would be one of the most challenging issues facing the insurance industry over the next 10 years, according to Roberts.

She said insurers needed to increase specialist staff and training, increase education to employers and increase skills to determine the early warning signs.

Roberts said early intervention and rehabilitation programs would prevent secondary mental health issues arising from members' inability to return to work.