Findings from Monash University Provide New Insights into Managed Care (General Practitioner Service Use Before and After Long-Term Workplace Injury: A Retrospective Cohort Study): Managed Care

2026 JAN 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Managed Care have been published. According to news reporting from Melbourne, Australia, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “In Australia, general practitioner (GP) consultations for work-related injuries are funded by workers’ compensation and GP care for non-work-related conditions is funded by public health insurance (Medicare Benefits Schedule, MBS). This study aimed to measure changes in the proportion and frequency of GP consultations after a long-term work injury, including both Medicare and workers’ compensation funded care, and to assess the proportion of GP services funded by each scheme.”

Financial supporters for this research include Monash Graduate Research Scholarship, National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence on Low Back Pain, Monash University.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Monash University, “This retrospective cohort study linked administrative GP records from MBS and workers’ compensation systems in New South Wales, Australia. The study included injured workers with long-duration (2 + years) compensation claims and community comparators. Primary outcome measures included the proportion and frequency of GP services, measured in the year pre-injury, and each of the first two years post-injury. Mixed-effects negative binomial regression was used to compare outcomes between groups during all three study periods. The cohort included 3170 injured workers and 7636 community controls. The annual median GP services increased from 5 (Interquartile range 2-10) pre-injury to 19 (IQR 12-27) in the first-year post-injury and decreased to 16 (IQR 10-23) in the second year. Compared to the community control cohort, injured workers used 3.6 (95% CI 3.33, 3.81) and 2.7 (95% CI 2.54, 2.91) times more GP services in the first- and second-year post-injury, respectively. This increase in annual median service use was observed among those funded by workers’ compensation, while services subsidised by Medicare remained similar across all three study periods. GP service use by injured workers with long-compensation claims increased substantially post-injury and remained high for two years. Workers also continued receiving Medicare-subsidised services at a similar level to pre-injury, presumably for managing non-work-related conditions.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “An integrated care model may provide holistic support to injured workers needing care for both workplace-injury-related and other conditions.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: General Practitioner Service Use Before and After Long-Term Workplace Injury: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 2026. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation can be contacted at: Springer|plenum Publishers, 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013, USA. (Springer - www.springer.com; Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation - http://www.springerlink.com/content/1053-0487/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Preeti Maharjan, Healthy Working Lives Research Group, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Additional authors for this research include Daniel Griffiths, Michael Di Donato, Luke R. Sheehan, Danielle Mazza and Alex Collie.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-025-10356-6. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation is: Springer|plenum Publishers, 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013, USA.

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