Injury management planning

An injury management plan is a tailored written document which can assist you in understanding the next steps of your worker's recovery.

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What is an Injury Management Plan?

An Injury Management Plan is a written document designed to coordinate and manage the treatment, rehabilitation and (if necessary) retraining needs of a worker to support their recovery and return to work. The Injury Management Plan is aimed at supporting a safe and durable return to work and holistic recovery for an employee.

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Why is an Injury Management Plan required?

The claims service provider (CSP) must develop an injury management plan if a worker's injury is identified as a significant injury within 20 working days. A worker is considered to have sustained a significant injury when there has been an incapacity for work (total or partial) for a continuous period of more than seven days.

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Benefits of an Injury Management Plan

A good Injury Management Plan can help the injured worker to set and achieve small goals that move them towards return to work and return to health, it is a collaborative tool that is shared between all parties, so everyone is kept updated.

The Injury Management Plan is a document developed following collaboration with the key claim stakeholders including the worker, employer (where relevant) and treatment providers. This ensures that it captures goals that are meaningful for the stakeholders and that they understand their obligations in achieving them, ensuring greater commitment to achieving the goals and a better chance of recovery and return to work.

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Who is included on the Injury Management Plan?

An Injury Management Plan is developed by the claims service provider to be tailored to the injured worker, in line with conversations and information provided by the key stakeholders such as the employer, rehabilitation consultant, nominated treating doctor and specialist team.  

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When should an Injury Management Plan be updated?

While your worker has a claim, the claims service provider will review the plan to see if there is a change in return-to-work goal or material changes in claim circumstances that impact return to work or earnings.

This could include:

  • when a return-to-work plan is developed
  • when surgery or a treatment plan is approved
  • change in return to work goal takes place
  • upgrade or downgrade in capacity
  • engagement with a rehabilitation provider.
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Injury Management Plan goals

Goals are one of the most important pieces of information in the Injury Management Plan as it captures what we are currently aiming to achieve on the claim. Goals are developed in consultation with the key claim stakeholders and may change as a claim progresses and circumstances change.

On the Injury Management Plan there is always an over-arching return to work/recovery goal, for example, to return to work with your pre-injury employer. The worker and their case manager aim to agree on and articulate bite-sized, actionable return to work, treatment and social goals that are designed to assist workers to achieve their larger return to work/recovery goal.

The claims service provider (CSP) case manager will develop goals and actions to be undertaken by each stakeholder to assist with achieving a goal. All Injury Management Plan goals should be based on the relevant information that is available on the day the plan is issued.

Injury Management Plan goals include:

  • treatment (for example, type of treatment, goals of therapy and frequency)
  • rehabilitation (for example, participating in rehabilitation support or appointments)
  • safe and durable return to work (for example, specific return to work goal and steps required to achieve upgrades in capacity)
  • activities of daily living (ADLs), (for example, everyday tasks such as work, domestic and leisure activities).

An Injury Management Plan may include goals regarding a injured worker's activities of daily living, in addition to return to work and treatment goals.

If a worker's injury is severe it may take a length of time for treatment and rehabilitation goals to be met before return to work can be considered. Here the Injury Management Plan may focus on functional lifestyle goals (for example, the worker participating in their local community or developing relationships with family and friends), which can assist in building motivation, capacity, and the worker's ability to move to return to work planning.  

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The purpose and importance of being involved in Injury Management Plans

How can you be involved in the Injury Management Planning process?

The claims service provider must develop an Injury Management Plan in collaboration with claim stakeholders such as the worker, employer, rehabilitation consultant, nominated treating doctor and other treating parties.

Employer involvement in an Injury Management Plan can show an injured worker that you are involved/invested in their recovery and return to work. It can also help to repair or build relationships where the worker injured may not have felt that the employer was interested in their welfare or how they were progressing.

You can assist the claims service provider to formulate tailored goals by:

  • providing information on what suitable duties you can offer
  • making return to work plans available
  • discussing key points of the injured worker's recovery with the case manager
  • providing the claims service provider with Injury Management Plan supporting documentation such as any copies of rehabilitation plans and assessments and certificates of capacity/reports.  
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