Injury Schemes Seminar - actuaries.asn.au · Jacelle lang and Elayne grace. December 2013 Actuaries 9 committee – l-r: raewin Davies, bevan Damm, richard yee (convenor), Sam Fuller,

Actuaries December 20134

With a number of schemes having undertaken reviews, and generational change

underway in some States, the former accident compensation Seminar was relaunched in 2013 as the Injury Schemes Seminar, providing the opportunity to reconsider the role and operations of injury support schemes. building on 25 years of thought-leadership within the industry, ISS2013 was held on the gold coast from 10- 12 november.

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InjurySchemesSeminarBalancing Outcomes

* Formerly the Accident Compensation Seminar

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10–12 November 2013 • Sheraton Mirage Gold Coast

kEynotE aDDrESS anD PlEnary 1Sam Bailey delivered the keynote address with a graphic and vivid telling of his story.

From someone who was free and working on the land, Sam’s accident was a life-changing event which left him a quadriplegic. His inspiring story was about getting back that freedom, the road that was travelled and the demonstrations of the freedom to live his life to the fullest.

Paul O’Connor then discussed the contrasting perspectives about what the theme of ISS2013– balancing outcomes - means, highlighting the issues that our society must grapple with in determining what it is willing to support and what is sustainable.

PlEnary 2Presented by Niki Ellis, Pam Anders and David Gifford. Paul O’Connor and Greg McCarthy joined the panel for questions.

Over the years, organisations have demonstrated tremendous progress with respect to safety and injury prevention and the lost time rates are now very low. However, the guest speakers reminded us that it was now time to bring back the ‘H’ in the Organisation HEALTH and safety (OHS) approach.

Compensation systems have historically been designed for injuries and generally neglect illnesses and diseases. However, health promotion should be a primary focus for organisations and schemes as data supports a direct link between health promotion and increased risk of injury, prolonged hospitalisation and rehabilitation and higher treatment cost.

Mental health and diseases represent real challenges due to their complexity. However, having a forward looking focus on health outcomes can provide short-term results, as Worksafe Victoria’s implementation of the health promotion and free health checks in 2008 and TAC Victoria’s implementation of client outcomes in 2009 suggest.

Our focus should be on accountability, risk management and strategic models to promote a healthy Australian workforce.

Arrival of delegates

December 2013 Actuaries 5

PlEnary 3David Bowen described the three pillars underpinning DisabilityCare Australia, namely (1) the insurance approach, (2) choice and control and (3) community and mainstream, and gave a taste of what each is trying to achieve. This was followed by Liz Cairns discussing a variety of different outcomes that need to be balanced for DisabilityCare. Liz’s illustration included the concepts behind DisabilityCare which went through the needs and approach, the support required and where to obtain additional support for the individual such as networks, community, other services and the scheme. The final step was understanding how the whole process performed. Liz then provided some case studies on particular types of claimants and described how DisabilityCare would deal with such examples.

Sarah Johnson talked about insurance principles and approach; and in particular, a shift away from a welfare model and compensation/lump sum thinking.

Peter Martin discussed financial sustainability emphasising that the agency (DisabilityCare Aust) has to manage this in contrast to Medicare and other Government agencies, where the agent is not responsible for financial sustainability. He also commented that scheme objectives such as adequacy and affordability are based on perceptions and have implications on what DisabilityCare Aust needs to do.

PlEnary 4Len Boehm spoke about the current trend in stress claims; and whether there is a social responsibility for the schemes to pay for these, given life is full of stress, from work or otherwise.

Andrew Nicholls spoke about the challenges of implementing changes and how hard this is; approaches such as revolutionary vs. incremental changes; and that schemes require ongoing and periodic ‘updating’ to ensure the continuing balance between stakeholders.

Lew Watts discussed the long-term and recent stability in the Western Australian CTP scheme, with limited changes occurring, and then addressed the new changes coming with the national schemes and whether they have the resources to implement such changes.

Greg McCarthy’s presentation covered the significant increase in maintenance claims, Plenary 2: Pam Anders Plenary 4: Len Boehm

Plenary 2: Niki Ellis Plenary 3: Sarah Johnson

Plenary 1: Paul O’Connor Plenary 3: Peter Martin

Sam Bailey – Keynote Address Plenary 3: Liz Cairns

Daniel Smith welcomes attendees Plenary 3: David Bowen

Actuaries December 20136

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with potential correlation with provisional liability. In addition, the case was stated for the need for reform, acknowledging that schemes don’t remain stable over time –this is where privatisation provides the long-term advantage of continuous adjustment to keep schemes viable.

concUrrEnt SESSIonSIn keeping with our expanded coverage of injury schemes, there were more concurrent sessions on offer and with a broader range of topics than ever before. Attendees needed extra time to make their selections!

Most of our injury schemes reported on their individual scheme. These updates are a great tool to reference in future years to track schemes’ evolution. In addition to our CTP and workers’ compensation schemes, we heard from Lorraine Mackin and Mark Bagshaw on implementation issues for the NDIS and from Maree Dyson on managing severely injured clients. Darryl Frank and David Gifford added to the severely injured discussion, with a paper on mortality projections. For a completely different scheme perspective, Peter Hardy gave us insights into Victims Compensation.

With almost 40 concurrent sessions in addition to the scheme updates, the highlights are not exhaustive. Catch-up on more on the Institute website: www.actuaries.asn.au/ISS2013.

Underlying design principles for our schemes were also discussed, including views on social capital by Associate Professor Alan Clayton and Dr Mary Wyatt and on the sustainability of common law by Geoff Atkins.

Claims management impacts scheme costs, and claimants’ experiences were examined from a variety of perspectives. A number of papers were presented on emerging claim types, including psychological injury (Andrew McInerney), with another perspective by Jacelle Lang, and cancer risks (Lisa Simpson). Fred Cicchini gave us a ‘how to’ guide on building personal and business resilience. In keeping with an actuarial seminar, Fred included some common formula used by psychologists including: stuff^stuff equals I’m not ok.

Others approached management from the overall scheme level, with papers on legal risks (Andrew Smith), and on medical cost management (Bevan Damm). What about the roles of the injury claim

Leigh Davidson, Kate Hopman, Meghan Isley and Kathy Hulskamp

Andrew McInerney, David Gregory and Jason Yu

Ash Evans and Jonathan Cohen Katrina Ren, Felix Tang and Laurel Kong

Plenary 4: Greg McCarthy Katie Rogers, Aaron Cutter and David Gifford

Plenary 4: Lew Watts Bruce Crossett, Richard Yee and Christopher Hill

Plenary 4: Andrew NichollsBetty Chan, Andrew Ngai, Peter Hardy and Ben Edwards

December 2013 Actuaries 7

manager? Alex Collie and others led us through a study of the emotional impact of injury management on the case manager and how front line interventions could improve outcomes for injured persons, whilst Felix Tang presented on evaluating injury prevention efforts.

Scheme performance matters – ask Hardik Dalal who gave an overview of publicly reported performance measures. Andrew Doughman and others asked “What is the role of the regulator in balancing outcomes? And what do actuaries add?” We heard from WorkSafe actuaries Niki Appleton and Amanda Aitken on the various roles undertaken by actuaries throughout the organisation. The remuneration incentives are an important driver of scheme performance and Grace Ng and others presented on the options for balancing outcomes between schemes and their external providers. Laurel Kong turned the focus to the insureds as a risk management tool, whilst Michael Playford presented on the actuarial role in scheme management.

Scheme reform continues at a rapid pace, and our papers covered implementation issues, such as Peter McCarthy’s paper on moving from third party to first party in CTP schemes, and post reform experience, including one on the NSW WorkCover reforms (Roland Fan and others).

There were sessions on safety, including commuter safety in the mining industry (Candice Potter and others). The use of data is growing exponentially – our papers included the use of analytics (Aaron Cutter) and of telematics (Kaise Stephan).

We also covered reinsurance for injury schemes, with the perspective of Ty Birkett. Scott Reeves brought the European perspective, with a paper on large transport claims in the EU.

nEtworkIngThe Welcome Dinner provided great opportunities to catch up with people early in the piece and tee-up get-togethers for later.

Networking proved to be slightly more of a challenge at the EY Gala Dinner as a result of some outlandish retro costumes. Nonetheless by the amount of wandering around it was quite apparent that many people were catching up with friends, colleagues, clients and advisors and possibly complete strangers. The breaks between sessions, lunches and coach transfers were

excellent opportunities to quiz presenters about their sessions. Moving between sessions and the breaks were also excellent for bumping into people we hadn’t seen for years – many from interstate.

Just by observing the level of conversation, both serious and not so serious, it was apparent that networking is truly alive and well within the injury schemes community.

organISIng commIttEERichard Yee, (Convenor), EYKwame Atsu, Motor Accidents AuthorityKim Birch, Motor Accident Insurance CommissionAaron Cutter, FinityBevan Damm, EYRaewin Davies, PwCSam Fuller, Taylor FryLaurel Kong, KPMGLisa Pronesti, Actuaries InstituteEmma Simonson, Actuaries Institute

SPonSorSPlatinum Sponsor

Platinum Sponsor Certificate presented to Bevan Damm of EY

Silver Sponsor Certificate presented to Aaron Cutter, Finity

Silver Sponsor Certificate presented to Ash Evans, Taylor Fry

Silver Sponsor Certificate presented to Andrew Smith, PwC

Jenny Bailey, Sam Bailey, Tracey Curro and Daniel Smith

Supporting Partners

Silver Sponsors

Actuaries December 20138

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Keynote Address in progress

Tracey Curro – Facilitator Paul Driessen, Ash Evans and Tony Mobbs

John DeRavin

Mark Bagshaw and Lorraine Mackin

Peter McCarthy, Vivian Tse, Paul Driessen and Merry Tang

Rasa Ruseckaite and Richard Yee

Aaron Cutter, Rawin Davies, Jonathan Nicholls, Sandra Chapman and Sam Fuller

Henry Jin and John Killick

Lesley Anderson, Lew Watts, Richard Mayo and Fab Zanuttigh

Barista LoungeAlfresco

Amanda Aitken and Niki Appleton

Andrew Smith, Amanda Aitken and Gavin Moore

Jacelle Lang and Elayne Grace

December 2013 Actuaries 9

Committee – L-R: Raewin Davies, Bevan Damm, Richard Yee (Convenor), Sam Fuller, Aaron Cutter, Kim Birch, Lisa Pronesti, Emma Simonson and Laurel Kong – absent Kwame Atsu

Austin Flowers Alan Greenfield (aka Dr Evil) and Austin Flowers Gala Dinner preparations

Angus Cairn, Bill Konstantinidis, Thomas Cherian and Irina Konstantinidis

Lisa Simpson, Amanda Aitken, Niki Appleton, Paul O’Connor and Liz Cairns

Mini Me Craftsmanship Balloon masters

Gavin and Vanessa Pearce

Andrew Nicholls and Lew Watts