Does time off work after injury vary by region? A comparative study of disability durations across Australian states and territories within a single workers' compensation system

This project builds on an earlier study (1) in which we compared durations of compensated time loss across eight Australian workers' compensation jurisdictions. The purpose was to determine whether policy variations between the jurisdictions affected time off work. We found substantial significant differences between the groups, even with adjustment for a host of factors known to affect disability duration including demographics, socio-economic status, industry, occupation, and injury type. However, seven of the eight jurisdictions were state- or territory-based. There could still be regional differences (e.g., culture, unemployment rate) influencing time off work that were not accounted for in the analysis. In this study, we address this limitation by taking advantage of a unique aspect of the eighth jurisdiction, Commonwealth Comcare, which serves workers in government and interstate employers. Using similar methods - adjusted survival analysis - we will compare disability durations across multiple states from a single workers' compensation jurisdiction. Whatever differences remain should be attributable to regional variations unaccounted for by the factors included in the model and differences in workers' compensation policy. Note: we conducted an earlier version of this analysis. However, we later found issues with the Comcare data and delayed the project until these could be sorted. We have presented the earlier findings as proof-of-concept. 1. Collie A, Lane TJ, Hassani-Mahmooei B, Thompson J, McLeod C. Does time off work after injury vary by jurisdiction? A comparative study of eight Australian workers’ compensation systems. BMJ Open. 2016;6(5):e010910. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010910