{"id":81436,"date":"2026-03-16T15:47:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T04:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=81436"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T06:49:03","slug":"early-rehab-improves-recovery-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/03\/16\/early-rehab-improves-recovery-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Rehab Improves Recovery \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New research from Swiss Re Life &amp; Health has found that early rehabilitation can significantly improve health, recovery and return-to-work outcomes for those experiencing injury or illness.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swissre.com\/australia_newzealand\/insights\/rehabilitation-watch-2025-australia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Rehabilitation Watch 2025<\/em><\/a> provides a market view of rehabilitation outcomes in Australia and draws on program-level data from 12 rehabilitation providers supporting 2,348 life insurance customers.<\/p>\n<p>Swiss Re states the findings show strong and measurable health improvements, alongside clear opportunities to support customers earlier in their claim journey, particularly those experiencing mental health conditions.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When we get rehabilitation right, we deliver better outcomes&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The report concludes that effective rehabilitation benefits customers, while also supporting the long-term sustainability of the life insurance system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key insights include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Customers referred to rehabilitation within six weeks of onset of disability achieved RTW rates of 79%. However, the median referral time remains 46 weeks\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_81439\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-81439\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swissre.com\/australia_newzealand\/insights\/rehabilitation-watch-2025-australia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-81439\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-16-at-3.38.37-pm-e1773636022107.png\" alt=\"Rehabilitation watch 2025 - Swiss Re\" width=\"200\" height=\"285\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-81439\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to access the full report.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li>Mental health claims are increasing in volume and complexity, yet customers with mental health conditions are referred later than other groups (median 60 weeks)<\/li>\n<li>Rehabilitation delivers broad health gains<\/li>\n<li>42% of rehabilitation programs are now delivered digitally or via telehealth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Swiss Re&#8217;s analysis indicates a $26.89 return on investment for every $1 invested in external rehabilitation services, based on actuarial assumptions regarding reserve release.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lloyd Campbell Gibson<\/strong>, Head Life &amp; Health Reinsurance Australia &amp; New Zealand, Swiss Re, said: \u201cWhen we get rehabilitation right, we deliver better outcomes for customers and strengthen the long\u2011term resilience of our industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEarly engagement and consistent pathways, especially in mental health, remain some of the most effective levers we have to drive sustainable results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said the industry is moving beyond paying claims to partnering in a person\u2019s recovery journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis research helps us better understand the impact rehabilitation can have and where we can continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swissre.com\/australia_newzealand\/insights\/rehabilitation-watch-2025-australia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> to access the full report.<\/p>\n<p>Also see our report: <a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/03\/17\/call-for-change-to-address-contradiction-between-returning-to-wellness-and-remaining-disabled\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Call for Change to Address Contradiction Between Returning to Wellness and Remaining Disabled<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research from Swiss Re Life &amp; Health has found that early rehabilitation can significantly improve health, recovery and return-to-work outcomes for those experiencing injury or illness. Rehabilitation Watch 2025 provides a market view of rehabilitation outcomes in Australia and draws on program-level data from 12 rehabilitation providers supporting 2,348 life insurance customers. Swiss Re [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":81441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,8281],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-company-news","8":"category-health-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81436"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81480,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81436\/revisions\/81480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}