For years now SwiftDoc has been well-known for providing patient care to Australians wherever they may be – at home, at work or even on holiday. But what many don’t know is that while we’ve been caring for individuals and families around the nation, we’ve also been caring for some of our biggest companies, corporations and government departments, helping them take care of their valued workforce through timely and efficient WorkCover workers’ compensation claims.

In fact, it’s now a significant part of our business, so we thought it was time we delved a little deeper and shared with you a bit more of what it is all about.

Painting a picture of WorkCover workers’ compensation claims in Australia

Many of us spend a good part of our week at work, so it makes sense that we may suffer from an injury or illness in the workplace too. This is especially so for those who might work in physically demanding industries where they are required to lift or move things, operate machinery or spend time out in the elements.

In fact, according to the Safe Work Australia Australian Workers’ Compensation Statistics 2019-20 report, the three biggest industries where serious workplace injuries may occur are agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, and transport, postal and warehousing.[1]

This same report gives an interesting insight into the type and number of serious workers’ compensation claims during 2019-20.

Of the 120,355 serious claims, 31% relate to illness and disease, with most of these relating to mental health concerns. The remaining 69% relate to injuries, broken down into:

• Traumatic joint/ligament, muscle/tendon
• Musculoskeletal and connective tissue
• Wounds, lacerations, amputations and internal organ damage

Of course, there are many more less serious claims (nearly half a million of them in 2021-22 in fact), with the majority of these related to injuries caused by “lifting, pushing, pulling or bending”. 31% of these less serious injuries resulted in a workers’ compensation claim.[2]

SwiftDoc takes care of both employees and employers

While most understand there is a WorkCover workers’ compensation claims service in Australia, they don’t often think of it as a multifaceted process. There are always two sides to every WorkCover workers’ compensation claim. The employee, who needs medical care and attention to recover from their illness or injury, and the employer, who needs to help their employee in their recovery and ultimate return to work, and needs to navigate the myriad of paperwork and requirements for a WorkCover workers’ compensation claim.

Luckily SwiftDoc offers a service that helps both parties, making the whole process smoother, quicker and quite often more cost effective too.

For the employee – Depending on the individual case SwiftDoc may provide medical care and assessment such as prescriptions or imaging, managing care and recovery until they are ready to return to work.

For the employer – Once SwiftDoc has assessed the employee, a Certificate of Capacity can be supplied to get the WorkCover workers’ compensation claims service underway. Depending on the nature of the illness or injury, SwiftDoc may provide additional information as needed to satisfy the requirements of the claim.

This two-pronged approach makes the process much smoother and faster for both parties. So much so in fact that SwiftDoc already has a formidable list of employers on the books:

Back to health, and back to work

Safe Work Australia statistics (2019-20), show that the median lost time for a serious workers’ compensation claim is seven working weeks, where the median compensation paid was $14,500.

Here at SwiftDoc, we’re committed to bringing that median lost time down as low as we can. We’ve compiled a few statistics of our own, to show how our approach to workers’ compensation claims may help to reduce lost time, and therefore lower costs for employers:

We’re looking to expand this service to help even more employees and employers

We make no apologies for being a bit of a disrupter in the marketplace, because after all, it’s our patients who benefit the most. In fact, currently we’re one of only a few telehealth services handling WorkCover workers’ compensation claims. But we have plans to take this further by:

• Introducing a triage service whereby nurses can manage WorkCover workers’ compensation enquiries 24/7, establishing patient needs before scheduling an appointment with one of our doctors. This replaces the often-used system of engaging an intermediary service, and gets things underway as quickly as possible,
• Educating employers on the benefits of this new, streamlined approach, with the benefit of helping to reduce their administrative burden, saving money, and saving time by removing the need for an intermediary service,
• Expanding our service to help even more employees and employers, contributing to a healthy Australian workforce.

This website does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment. If you think you may have a medical emergency, immediately dial Triple 0 (000).

References:

1 - Safe Work Australia. Australian Workers’ Compensation Statistics 2019-20. Accessed May 2023. 2 - Australian Bureau of Statistics. Work-related Injuries. Accessed May 2023.