New transparent reporting on healthcare costs
A new dashboard on healthcare costs and outcomes in the workers compensation and CTP schemes has been published on the SIRA website.
With healthcare costs exceeding $1 billion each year, the dashboard provides a transparent account of utilisation, costs and performance trends.
This measure forms part of SIRA’s response to its Healthcare review, which has been focused on ensuring that every dollar spent on healthcare delivers the right healthcare services, at the right time, so injured people recover as well as possible.
You can view the dashboard and learn more about recent trends in healthcare costs and outcomes below.
Healthcare in workers compensation
The dashboard shows that in 2019/20 healthcare costs in workers compensation grew only at 0.75 per cent. This result slows the trend since 2016 where healthcare costs grew at an inflation-adjusted rate of 12 per cent each year.
The 2019/20 result largely reflects restricted access to surgery and private hospitals during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Healthcare costs are now returning to pre-pandemic levels.
SIRA’s Healthcare review was established to better understand the drivers of rising healthcare costs. The review identified that the main contributor to rising healthcare costs in workers compensation was an increase in service utilisation – more people using more healthcare services.
The fastest growing healthcare service in workers compensation continues to be allied health services. Expenditure on allied health has increased by 10 per cent in the year to 2019/20.
Healthcare in the 2017 CTP scheme
While healthcare costs in the 2017 CTP scheme grew at 37 per cent in 2019/20, this growth is expected as more claims are added to the scheme each year.
In 2019/20 the average cost per healthcare service in CTP reduced by 3.4 per cent. Similar to the workers compensation scheme, access and use of healthcare services in the 2017 CTP scheme was likely impacted by COVID-19.
As the 2017 CTP scheme is only in its third year of operation, it is challenging to draw conclusions on healthcare trends while the scheme matures.
More findings on healthcare costs and outcomes in the workers compensation and CTP schemes are available in the dashboard.
SIRA will continue to publish updated healthcare dashboards each quarter.