It pays to stay abreast of changing compliance requirements
Workers’ compensation regulations can change consistently, making it challenging for overstretched self-insurers to keep up to date and compliant. Therefore, working with a self-insurance advice and claims management service such as the HIMS Group can pay dividends in the long run.
Constantly changing compliance obligations
In the last year alone, there have been several changes in NSW, including the replacement of the Workers’ Compensation Commission by the Personal Injury Commission and the launch of the new Psychological Claims Standard of Practice in February 2021, while COVID-19 initiated a raft of claim amendments.
“Two years ago, SIRA introduced their Standards of Practice on insurer conduct,” says Gem Riegels-Morgan, Account Manager/Consultant at HIMS Group. “That was a group of 31 standards covering the management of workers’ compensation claims, which has now been extended to 33. In some cases, these required significant changes to claims management practices and documentation.”
Gem continues, “Every couple of years, there will be a compliance change that will require self-insurers to spend time and resources on understanding and responding to the change. This can be a significant burden, particularly on smaller self-insurers.”
How HIMS assists
The HIMS Group offers a range of services to self-insurers to support them in meeting their compliance obligations. Gem elaborates, “We help them to keep abreast of the changes, understand the changes, and assist them in terms of reviewing their policies and procedures or rewriting standard letters so that they fit the new requirements.”
Besides, Gem Riegels-Morgan warns those self-insurers attempting to manage compliance changes could cost themselves significantly over time by making mistakes. “The Self Insurers Association does a great job providing education and support to the self-insurers in New South Wales, with education sessions every couple of months.
“The training sessions are significant in terms of providing jumping-off points to help self-insurers stay abreast of what’s happening and understanding changes. But in terms of going back to the office and doing the work to make themselves compliant it is another matter.
“So, self-insurers tend to be on their own when it comes to doing that sort of compliance work unless they work with someone like HIMS Group.”
Gem adds, “Self-insurers don’t have to try and meet their changing compliance obligations alone.
“Trying to stay abreast of all the changes and keeping the company compliant is a massive job. Furthermore, there is the day-to-day job of managing claims and the risk to your company, plus the core functions like making sure injured workers are getting paid and brought back to work effectively.
“Enabling the self-insurance team within an organisation to focus on their core activities is something we can help with by relieving self-insurers of a lot of that compliance burden and helping them to develop their systems and documents to keep them on track.”
To find out more about how HIMS can assist self-insurers to meet their compliance obligations, contact us today on 02 8378 2121 or email: team@HimsGroup.com.au
