icare announces successful tenderers for workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and investigation services

icare has today announced the successful tenderers for workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and investigation services for the NSW Nominal Insurer Workers Compensation Scheme.

This news article was updated on Friday 23 December 2022.

In September 2022, Insurance and Care NSW (icare) launched an open market tender for these services for the Workers Compensation Scheme, and for the Bush Fire Fighters Compensation Fund, the Emergency and Rescue Workers Compensation Fund, and the Uninsured Liability Scheme.

Through this tender process icare aims to ensure services are consistent and of the highest quality to improve return to work outcomes for injured workers. Contracts with successful tenderers will commence 1 January 2023 for an initial period of three years. icare may extend the contract term for an additional two years.

The new contracts include provisions to allow the successful tenderers to provide services to other schemes at icare's discretion, including the Treasury Managed Fund (TMF).

The successful tenderers listed below are contracted to begin providing services from 1 January 2023.

Workplace rehabilitation services

The new workplace rehabilitation panel will operate as an open panel. This means workers and employers will still be able to choose a provider that is not listed on the workplace rehabilitation panel.

Providers on the new workplace rehabilitation panel will charge a standard rate for their services. Those rehabilitation providers not on the new panel may choose to charge a different rate for their services.

The following providers are on the new workplace rehabilitation panel:

  • Actual Rehab
  • Acumen Health Management
  • Advanced Personnel Management (APM) / APM WorkCare
  • Beneco
  • Carfi
  • WRM (trading as Workplace Rehabilitation Management)
  • Greenlight Human Capital
  • Interact Injury Management
  • IOH Health
  • IPAR
  • JK Corporate Resourcing
  • Kairros
  • Kinnect
  • Konekt
  • Lifeworks Health Services
  • ORS Group
  • Pinnacle Rehab
  • Prestige Health Services Australia
  • Prudence Rehab
  • Recovery Partners
  • Recovre
  • Rehab Management
  • RehabCo
  • Rehabilitation Services by Altius
  • Resilia
  • Star Injury Management Services
  • The PROCARE Group
  • The Rehabilitation Specialists
  • Work Options
  • Work Rehab
  • WorkFocus.

Medico-legal services

The medico-legal panel will operate as an open panel. This means workers and employers will still be able to choose a provider that is not listed on the medico-legal panel.

There is no change to the service fees for medico-legal providers, who must adhere to fees set by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA).

The following providers are on the new medico-legal panel:

  • CBD Medico-Legal Consultants
  • Medicins Legale
  • Medico Legal Specialists
  • MedicoLegal Assessments Group
  • Medilaw NSW_ACT
  • MEDirect
  • mlcoa
  • MSBC
  • Nordwake (Trading as Independent Medical Opinion and Specialist Opinion Group).

Investigation services

The investigations panel will operate as a closed panel. This means claims service providers will be restricted to only choosing an investigations provider from this new panel. Providers on the new investigations panel will charge standard rates for their services.

The following providers are on the new investigations panel:

  • AB Investigations
  • Advanced Investigations
  • Brian F Davis and Associates
  • Brooksight Investigation
  • Farrell's Investigative Services
  • Huxley Hill and Associates
  • Insight Intelligence Group
  • Investigative Services Group
  • Lee Kelly Commercial Investigations
  • LKA Group
  • LS Intelligence
  • M and A Investigations
  • Maurice J Kerrigan and Associates
  • MJM Corporate Risk Services
  • NCA Consulting
  • NHN Investigations
  • Polo CPI
  • Quantumcorp
  • SureFact Group
  • The PROCARE Group
  • Triton Investigations Group
  • Verifact Investigations
  • Virtual Intelligence
  • Wise Group Business Solutions
  • Worksite Investigations.

    FAQs

  • Why did icare announce this open market tender?
    The previous contracts for workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and investigation services providers end on 31 December 2022.
  • When do agreements with the new tenderers start?

    The agreements with the successful tenderers will start from 1 January 2023.

  • How long are the provider contracts?

    Contracts will commence 1 January 2023 for an initial period of three years. icare may extend the contract term for an additional two years. 

  • What benefits are these new panels expected to bring?

    The new panel is expected to bring greater consistency in service experience across workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and investigation services and to help improve the outcomes for injured workers and their employers in NSW.

  • With these new service providers, will there be any disruption to services on claims?

    To ensure continuity of service, all third-party service providers will be able to complete their services on claims where the referral was accepted prior to 1 January 2023.

    From 1 January 2023:

    • Workplace rehabilitation and medico-legal service providers not on icare's new panel can continue to provide services.
    • Only investigation service providers on icare's new panel can be referred to for non-medical investigation services.
  • What is the difference between the arrangements for workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and investigation service providers?

    Both the workplace rehabilitation and the medico-legal panels will operate as open panels. This means workers and employers will still be able to choose a provider that is not listed on the rehabilitation or medico-legal panels.

    This arrangement does not change the requirements for providers:

    • to be approved by SIRA to deliver workplace rehabilitation services or injury management consultation services within the workers compensation scheme
    • to be a qualified registered medical practitioner to provide independent medical examinations.

    The investigations panel will operate as a closed panel. This means claims service providers will be restricted to only choosing an investigations provider from this new panel. This enables icare to establish standard expectations for investigation service providers.

  • What does this mean for employers?

    Employers will be able to continue to use their preferred workplace rehabilitation provider even if the provider is not on icare's panel from 1 January 2023.

    If your business has a preferred investigation service provider that is not selected for icare's new panel, referrals for investigations can no longer be made to this provider. Your claim service provider will need to select a suitable provider from the new panel.

    For medico-legal services, referrals can be still made for a provider not on icare's panels and workers will continue to be given the opportunity to choose from three options for independent medical examinations.

  • Are there any changes to the pricing of workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and investigation services?

    For workplace rehabilitation services, providers on the new panel will continue to charge uniform competitive rates. Those rehabilitation providers not on the new panel that continue to provide services may choose to charge different rates.

    For investigation services, competitive uniform pricing will be introduced across all providers on the panel.

    An automatic annual increase will be applied to the uniform rates for workplace rehabilitation and investigation services to ensure rates factor in fluctuations in the market.

    There is no change to the service fees for medico-legal providers, who must continue to adhere to the SIRA Fees Orders.

  • What does this mean for workers with a claim?

    To ensure continuity of service, all service providers will be able to complete their services on claims where the referral was accepted prior to 1 January 2023.

    For referrals from 1 January 2023, you will continue to:

    • Be able to nominate the workplace rehabilitations service provider.
    • Select from three options for independent medical examinations.
  • Why did icare put workplace rehabilitation and medico-legal services out to tender if those two panels remain open to all providers?

    The workplace rehabilitation and medico-legal open panels enables icare to ensure consistent, quality and best practice services through contractual arrangements, whilst allowing flexibility for employers or workers to exercise choice of providers off panel, where they wish to do so.

  • What procurement process was used for the open tender?

    The procurement process followed the NSW Procurement Policy Framework and was supported by an independent organisation.

  • Did icare consult with any parties prior to the open market tender?

    In 2021, icare undertook a consultation process to understand the experience of stakeholders with workplace rehabilitation, medico-legal and non-medical investigations services in the workers compensation scheme.

    Stakeholders that were consulted included claims service providers, third party service providers, employers and brokers.

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