On November 13 and 14, 2023, The Actuaries Institute hosted the Injury and Disability Scheme Seminar (IDSS) in Hobart. ISCRR was given the opportunity to present some recent research that was co-designed with WorkSafe Victoria.
Mark Phillips, Manager Clinical Services at WorkSafe Victoria, joined ISCRR’s Acting Co-Director Dr Janine McMillan to present ‘“It’s saving lives” – Evaluation of a Pain Education intervention for injured workers demonstrated improved pain and mental health outcomes’. Mark and Janine presented again the following day with the talk ‘Keeping up with rapid advances in spinal cord stimulator technology: How evidence reviews can inform workers compensation scheme practice.’
“My highlights from IDSS were the keynote address by Dylan Alcott AO, the scheme updates, discussions on mental health claims, and the session on ‘A Scheme for the Future’, with insightful talks by Prof Alex Collie, Kim Birch and Prof Kirsten Vallmuur” – Janine McMillan
They were joined at the seminar by Dr Kim Pham, Acting Co-Director at ISCRR, who presented on the unique academic-government partnership model between WorkSafe Victoria and Monash University. Her talk was entitled ‘Maximising impact for policy decision making: learnings from a Research-Government Partnership’.
WorkSafe and ISCRR’s research findings were well-received by all audiences. The seminar provided a great opportunity to share new ideas and discoveries, and strengthen connections with those working to better our injury and disability schemes.
“The importance of building trust, inclusivity with those of lived experience, and value-based healthcare were my key standouts at IDSS…” – Kim Pham
The conference theme was “Whole person, whole system”. By focusing on the whole person, rather than just the injury or disability, providers improve outcomes for individuals while ensuring the sustainability of the larger system.
Image: Above from left to right: Dr Janine McMillan, Mark Phillips and Aaron Cutter.