Good practice injury management plan
The role of the insurer case manager is to proactively coordinate all aspects of a person’s claim to optimise recovery and return to work (RTW) outcomes. An injury management plan (IMP) is developed by the insurer for a person with a likely significant injury.
An IMP is developed in consultation with the injured person, employer, nominated treating doctor, and other providers where indicated. The primary purpose of an IMP is to outline agreed goals, actions and supports, timeframes and responsibilities for the injured person and others involved in supporting their recovery and RTW.
An effective IMP builds mutual accountability for achieving agreed actions, enables review and changes to the plan in a timely manner to avoid delays and optimise recovery and RTW outcomes.
Good practice example
Following introduction of the insurer Standard of Practice 34: Return to work – early intervention, an example IMP below was designed by a joint insurer/SIRA working group to demonstrate how requirements, expectations, and good practice injury management and information design principles translate into a good practice IMP. This includes ensuring:
- the IMP is aligned with the primary purpose of recovery planning
- actions are tailored and specific to the person (rather than generic obligations)
- appropriate length and language to optimise engagement and perceived value.
The example is based on Susan’s case study.
The IMP is tailored to Susan, her injury and circumstances. It is not designed to be a template.
When developing an IMP, it is expected that insurers will consider and adopt the principles to suit the individual circumstances of the person, the industry, organisational and workplace setting and culture.
Roles and responsibilities
An IMP is to include the rights, roles and responsibilities of the person and others involved in in supporting the person to return to work. This information is included as the last page in the good practice example IMP above.
This element of the IMP is also available for insurers as a separate resource below.
Questions and feedback
If you have a question or want to provide feedback on these resources, send an email to our Recover at Work Team.