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Return to Work Coordinator

Our Return to Work Coordinator services simplifies the workers’ compensation process for employers and ensures employees gain access to professional support immediately following an incident. Our Return to Work Program RTW is designed to handle the entire process from start to finish, ensuring a safe and durable return to work, improving health outcomes and reducing costs and impact on your workers’ compensation premium.
 
From the moment a workplace injury occurs, we’ll triage the incident and provide notification, treatment recommendations and requirements under each scheme. Our Return to Work Coordinator will notify relevant regulators, submit claims, liaise with all stakeholders, develop recovery and return to work plans and provide the support and advice you need to remove stress and simplify the process.

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Our Return to Work (RTW) Coordinator Services

WHS/OHS Incident Management

Our WHS/OHS trained allied health team can help you with incident investigation and root cause analysis to provide timely advice and support from the moment a workplace injury occurs.

We bring empathy, experience, and legislative knowledge to help employers manage the complexities of workplace injuries effectively. We ensure that all administrative requirements are met and provide comprehensive support to employees throughout the return to work process.

Following an incident, our injury management consultants:

  • Liaise with all stakeholders, including insurers, on an employer’s behalf.
  • Develop appropriate, evidence-based return to work plans.
  • Are fully accessible to the employee with an injury to ensure they have a positive experience and make a complete recovery.
  • Provide expertise and support during a challenging time for workers and employers.
  • Save your organisation time.
  • Reduce time loss on claims through early intervention resulting in reduced workers’ compensation premiums.

Injury Management Response

Altius Group assists insurers, employers, workers and treating doctors across Australia to find solutions to problems in complex return to work and injury management cases. Our team assesses the nature of the problem and attempts to mediate a solution. With access to a panel of medical specialists, we’re able to deliver impartial medical assessments and expert direction and support for complex cases.

We work with your internal structure to ensure injury management systems are effective. Our goal is to ensure workers are returned to work efficiently, responsibly, and sustainably. The outcome is commercially driven strategies developed to support your business goals.

These strategies may involve providing a specific return to work program, designed by our return to work coordinators to help individuals overcome psychological and physical barriers impeding a timely return to work.

When Altius Group manages your injury response:

  • Our return to work coordinators work with employees to implement effective self-management strategies for their long-term physical or psychological health and wellbeing.
  • We provide direct and on-call access to health professionals experienced in dealing with injury management issues.
  • Our injury management response guarantees organisational compliance, highly effective injury rehabilitation, detailed documentation, and insightful planning.
  • Arrangements are flexible to include total function management or as an overflow resource for Return to Work Coordinators and/or injury managers.
  • Service standard agreements are negotiated with a focus on convenience, quality, and value. The net result ensures service expectations are conveyed, processes are clearly acknowledged, and results are closely monitored.
  • We can provide a range of services to reduce the duration of complex injury management claims - designed to support a return to work or life following an injury.

 

Claims Notification and Management

Upon notification, our RTW coordinators will follow the requirements of each state and scheme concerning incident and injury reporting. When required, our team will notify your insurer/agent by lodging the claim forms and required paperwork.

Our team will manage the claims notification process and immediately commence support for your employees and the management of all stakeholders. We aim to reduce your stress when an incident occurs and free up your time so that you can carry on with your usual day-to-day operations.

Altius Group can also implement strategies to reduce Workers' Compensation premiums, improve safety and deliver commercial gains to your bottom line. We work with organisations to strategically reduce and manage the operational and commercial impact of workplace incidents. 

Altius Group Return to Work Coordinators :

  • Ensure an employee feels cared for, valued, and supported in their recovery and return to work.
  • Are trained in communication and negotiation skills, with the expertise to liaise with all stakeholders for timely, durable return to work outcomes.
  • Ensure you are compliant with regulatory requirements, avoiding potential fines and penalties, and remove the frustration of managing claims internally.
  • Provide an element of independence - protecting a claims’ progress and knowledge of internal Return to Work procedures in the case of staff turnover.
  • Have been at the forefront of the injury management industry, delivering outcomes above scheme standards, since 2001.

Recovery and Return to Work Planning

Altius Group assists employees in overcoming a range of challenges impacting their transition back to work. Our return to work coordinators bring together the best of industry experience, professional training and creative problem-solving to help employees resume a full and productive life. Intervention is proactive, goal-focused, and cost-effective.

Our return to work coordinators are well-versed in relevant legislation and best practice guidelines to ensure all stakeholders are consulted and considered in the return to work process. Services are also tailored to support human resource risk management strategies and provide financially beneficial and sustainable outcomes.

Our Recovery at Work and Return to Work plans are directive, evidence-based and transparent. We have experience covering injuries occurring in State Workers' Compensation, Federal Comcare and Compulsory Third-Party schemes, as well as those accidents or illnesses covered by life insurance and income protection policies.

Large and small businesses can completely outsource their injury management program by engaging us as their Outsourced Return to Work Coordinator. This suits organisations without internal injury management expertise, or those needing to free up resources. Outsourcing the role is a fantastic way for employers to provide cost-effective and proactive injury management services and helps to:

  • Save time – so you can focus on your business and clients.
  • Save money on recruitment, onboarding and skills development costs needed with an internal RTW coordinator.
  • Reduce strain on internal resources.
  • Improve return to work outcomes and timeframes – minimising your workers’ compensation premiums.
  • Provide end-to-end support from incident notification through to employee recovery.

Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination

Working with employers, insurers, and brokers, we assist with managing the bigger-picture complexities of injuries. This includes the impact of physical and psychological injuries on individuals, the workplace, peers, finances, and schemes.

We understand legislation and best practice guidelines and ensure all stakeholders are consulted in the return to work process. Our RTW consultants understand, and seek to manage, claims costs in collaboration with the insurer.

Our qualified and experienced RTW Coordinators:

  • Manage all stakeholder communication and management to deliver market-leading outcomes for return to work.
  • Help you reduce the time spent dealing with workplace incidents and reduce workers' compensation premiums.
  • Improve health outcomes and recovery for employees with an injury or illness.
  • Minimise disruption of operations for employers following incident or injury.
Return to Work Coordination F altius group

Need help finding what you require? Speak with an expert.

Why choose Altius Group for your Return to Work Coordination Services?

Our RTW coordinators improve claim costs and duration of RTW outcomes.
We understand legislation and best practice guidelines.
We ensure all stakeholders are consulted in the return to work process.
We’re a one stop hub that brings together broad allied health expertise.
We place clients at the centre, providing high level care and support.
We have over 20 years of experience as a national occupational rehabilitation provider.

Frequently Asked Questions

Altius Group is a national occupational rehabilitation provider with operations in NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT, SA, TAS, WA, and NT. Building upon this foundational knowledge, our Return to Work Coordinators are certified under relevant schemes to support your compliance and are experienced in providing direct to employer return to work services. 

We are a market-leading provider focussed on providing a positive experience through workers' compensation and non-workers’ compensation matters while delivering evidence-based intervention. Through our clinical and industry experience, we have dedicated teams who specialise in physical and psychological claims management.

Our Return to Work Coordinator team includes occupational therapists, psychologists, exercise physiologists, physiotherapists, nurses, and employment specialists, and work closely with the WHS team to manage and prevent further injury occurrences.

Our Return to Work Coordinator services revolve around delivering high-level care and support, placing our clients at the centre of our practice. 

The workplace services we provide to support an individual's return to work include:

A Return to Work ( RTW ) program is a workplace policy (compulsory in NSW) that details how your organisation manages workplace injuries and return to work. It should include the details of your RTW coordinator, preferred rehabilitation provider and workers' compensation insurer.

This policy must be available to all employees as they will require this information in the event of a workplace injury. It should also include an overview of individuals' responsibilities within the Return to Work program. The requirements for RTW programs differ in each state or scheme. If you’re unsure, please reach out for further information or assistance.

Altius Group can also be engaged to complete a documentation review or develop your RTW return to work program for you.

Although return to work is great for employers to have a full team, many injured employees often don’t realise they are the ones benefiting from their return to work, experiencing:

  • A timely recovery
  • Reduced anxiety and depression
  • Maintained confidence in their abilities
  • Improved relationships

A RTW Return to Work coordinator is a designated team member who supports a worker with an injury with a RTW plan made easy for both the employer and employee.

RTWC collaborates with doctors, insurers, and treating professionals, as well as working seamlessly with HR and payroll. RTWCs understand legislation and best practice guidelines to ensure all stakeholders are consulted in the return to work process.

A RTW return to work plan most commonly refers to a document that details a return to work following an injury. This may also be referred to as a suitable duties plan or recovery at work plan.

This plan should be developed by someone with suitable experience to ensure a safe return to work. It should be developed in consultation with the employer, the worker with an injury, the nominated treating doctor, and any treating parties involved with the worker.

To implement the plan, all parties should be agreeable to the duties and recovery timeframes documented within the plan. We strongly recommend regularly reviewing the return to work plan for success, and addressing barriers experienced along the way. It is important to remain open-minded during recovery and work collaboratively to achieve an efficient and durable return to work.

Depends on the complexity of the injury.

Yes, if requested by an employer due to concerns about employee or workplace safety. Under work health and safety, an employer is required to ensure employees are fit and able to perform the inherent requirements of their role.

If a worker has sustained a workplace injury or had any form of absence from the workplace, the employer may request a doctor's clearance. This can also be supported through our functional or medical assessments.

Nevertheless, if it was a minor injury, such as a finger cut, for example, GP clearance may not be needed. 

Altius Group assists organisations of all sizes across a range of industries. Our Return to Work Coordinator Service is fully scalable to meet your demands. We tailor our services to enhance your current Return to Work structure, as well as providing the following:

  • Site visits, clear and regular communication, claims management administration, Return to Work management and development of Return to Work plans.
  • Case management expertise for all compensable and non-compensable matters and strategic claims reviews at an agreed frequency.
  • Monthly reporting summaries for national control and visibility.

Our up-to-date knowledge of regulatory requirements enables us to develop compliant Return to Work programs. This includes outlining the Engaged Return to Work Coordinator's role in recovery at work planning and managing workers with a work-related injury or illness.