Edition No.41

Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of the Personal Injury Commission News.

Firstly, as we close out the year, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all Commission users, staff, Members, Medical Assessors and service providers for their efforts during 2022. This has been a challenging year and by working together we have been able to achieve so much, including a higher number of in-person hearings and mediations. It’s been wonderful to see people coming back into the Commission.

This edition focuses on the appointment of Brett Williams as Senior Member in the Motor Accidents Division, an end of year status report for our Medical Services, proposed rule changes under consideration by the Rule Committee, and a final reminder about our end-of-year shutdown.

Finally, I wish everybody a happy and joyous festive season and look forward to working with you all in the new year. I will be in touch with another edition of Personal Injury Commission News then.

Regards,

Appointment of Senior Member in the Motor Accidents Division

I am pleased to announce that the Attorney-General has appointed Brett Williams as the inaugural Senior Member in the Motor Accidents Division. Brett’s appointment commenced on 12 December, and I have no doubt he will make an extremely valuable contribution to the Commission.

Medical Services – End of Year Status Report

Throughout 2021 and 2022, we kept everyone informed of the significant challenges we faced in dealing with the impact of COVID-19 and the backlog of in-person medical examinations caused by the pandemic. In Edition 39 of this publication, we reported on our performance and shared the news that our operations were finally turning around. For the first time since the Commission came into existence (1 March 2021), we were starting to experience “clear air”.

We finish 2022 with an impressive result, high clearance rates and finalisations in motor accidents medical disputes and a significant reduction in the backlog of medical disputes in general. The following provides an update on the latest figures.

Motor Accidents Medical Disputes Clearance Rates Remain High

Pleasingly, finalisations of medical disputes increased over the year and remained consistently high in the financial year to date (FYTD). Finalisations peaked at 497 for November 2022, our highest figure for the year as shown in the graph below. This means the clearance rate for the FYTD is 128%. Clearance rates over 100% mean that more matters are being completed than are being lodged. In short, the backlog is heading down, and we are finalising more matters than are being filed, which is extremely positive.

Importantly, not only are we finalising high numbers of medical disputes, which make up our backlog (medical disputes filed prior to 1 January 2022), we are also finalising disputes filed in 2022 as shown in the graph below (with the light and dark green differentiators, respectively). This means we will keep our 2022 medical disputes moving through the system in a more timely manner.

^{Data was extracted on 12 December 2022 for November EOM and is subject to change each month.}

Medical Disputes Backlog is Reducing Month-on-Month

Since January 2022, the motor accidents medical disputes backlog has reduced from 4,658 disputes to 1,649, at close of business 30 November 2022 - a reduction of over 3,000 disputes. We remain on track to eliminate the backlog by the third quarter of 2023. This is dependent on keeping finalisations consistently high (noting seasonal variations) and reducing the non-attendance of claimants at medical assessments.

^{Data was extracted on 12 December 2022 for November EOM and is subject to change each month.}

Volume of Medical Assessments Scheduled has Increased

Since the start of August, the Commission is scheduling over 750 medical assessments each month in motor accidents and over 200 in workers compensation matters. In motor accidents for November 2022, 857 medical appointments were scheduled, the highest figure for the year. By way of background, scheduled appointments is an important lead indicator of medical disputes subsequently finalised and of Medical Assessors’ availability in the system.

Unfortunately, there are still around 45% of appointments for motor accidents medical assessments being cancelled each month. These may be rescheduled or cancelled for good reasons (e.g. COVID infection or flu-like symptoms of the claimant or Medical Assessor, the matter has been resolved or withdrawn, or a variety of unforeseen circumstances). However, there still remains a high number of cancellations, last minute reschedules or claimants failing to attend for reasons that could have easily been avoided.

^{Data was extracted on 12 December 2022 for November EOM and is subject to change each month.}

While the number of medical assessments scheduled during December and January will be lower due to the holiday period, there will be a focus on returning to a high volume of assessments from February 2023. Please note that our high-use specialties (psychiatry, rehabilitation and orthopaedics) continue to remain under pressure and there are delays in appointments in these fields.

Conclusion 

Our highest priority remains to reduce the backlog of COVID-delayed motor accidents medical disputes and focus on our 2022 filed matters to reduce the waiting times for our injured claimants, while maintaining our strong performance in clearing workers compensation disputes.

While finalisations will dip over the late December-January period, we hope to resume the first quarter maintaining strong performance in scheduling of appointments and finalisation of matters.

Proposed Rules Changes

1. Additional Document Issue – to examine a rule change that will reduce the number of interlocutory procedural decisions required to determine if additional documents will be accepted for a medical assessment under rule 67 of the PIC Rules;
2. Document Limitation Issue – to examine how best to reduce the volume of irrelevant material lodged in proceedings and attached to applications and responses, including introducing a page limit on documents lodged and what this might involve. The intention is to exclude irrelevant material and the duplication of material or evidence which does not relate to matters in issue in the proceedings. There is no intention to limit the amount of material being lodged by either party that relates to the real issues in dispute.
3. Amendments arising from the Motor Accident Injuries Amendment Act 2022 (MAI amending Act) – to amend rules 94(1), 95(2) and 105 of the PIC Rules to address amendments arising from the MAI amending Act.

Christmas / New Year Shutdown

• The last official sitting day of the Commission will be Friday, 16 December 2022 however, matters may be listed by exception during the week of 19 December 2022;
• There will be no medical assessments conducted between Friday, 23 December 2022 and Friday, 6 January 2023;
• There will be no certificates issued between 23 December 2022 and 6 January 2023;
• Preliminary conferences and medical assessments will recommence on Monday, 9 January 2023; and
• Conciliation/arbitrations, assessment conferences, and mediations will recommence on Monday, 16 January 2023.

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