Impact of legislative reform on benefit access and disability duration in workers’ compensation: an interrupted time series study

What is it about?

This study examined the impact of policy reform to the workers compensation system in the Australian state of New South Wales. The reforms were intended to improve the financial sustainability of the compensation scheme and to improve return to work rates. The reforms led to a 15.3% reduction in the number of injured workers accessing the compensation system. These effects were not evenly distributed, with larger effects in workers with occupational disease or mental health conditions. At the same time, there was an increase in the duration of disability among workers whose compensation claims were accepted, and insurers took longer to make claim decisions.

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