Policy

The ICD (International Classification of Diseases) is an international standard for classification of morbidity and mortality information and for the indexing of hospital records published by the World Health Organisation. ICD-9 and ICD-10 are now widely utilised in Australia, including by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services for national health statistics and by the Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs for disability and MRCA claims processing.

Note also that it is the Delegate (i.e. you) and not some other party, who must be satisfied as to the likelihood of a particular assertion. As a Delegate you are expected to use your judgement and discrimination to interpret the evidence and investigate the contentions put to you. You are not 'processing' so much as investigating and subsequently judging a claim for compensation. The act of seeking evidence (i.e.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a controversial diagnosis which relates to a cluster of symptoms, most often arising following a viral infection. It is assumed the condition is caused or at least triggered in some way by that viral infection, but this has not been conclusively demonstrated. CFS has several synonyms including 'Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome' and 'myalgic encephalitis'.

Note that this review is not a 'reconsideration' within the meaning of S62 of the SRCA. It can be undertaken by any officer with APS5 delegations.

The reviewing officer should accept that the client had 'reasonable excuse' if:

The 1971 Act has significantly different 'travel' provisions to those of the SRCA, i.e. in relation to journeys to or from work. Sections 32 and 33 of the 1971 Act cover the general case, i.e. travel to and from work whether or not the member was accommodated on base.

In short, journeys to work need not commence only from the employee's 'residence' to be compensable and likewise, journeys from work need not be to the residence but may be to any place.

Suspensions from compensation resulting from S37(7) – i.e. a provision which has effect when a client fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a rehabilitation program – relate to ALL of that client's compensation claims. The client is entirely 'cut off' from all financial benefits and/or further action to advance all and any of those claims.

Effort should always be made to ensure the determination of claims within the target period.  To ensure this, the commencement of the assessment of the claim must occur within 7 days of assignment to a claims assessor.  In some cases claims may take longer to determine due to a number of factors such as non-availability of relevant information or being held within ongoing backlogs.  However, claims that have encountered difficulty during assessment must be highlighted as part of a regular case conferencing process.  It is during this process that claims nearin

For instance, in the case of McCallum and Comcare (1993) an employee required to travel to a country town was injured while showering at her hotel before going to her place of work and was judged to have been injured in the course of employment. The injury was said to have occurred during an interval in an overall period of employment (the overall period of employment being the whole absence from home and temporary residence for work purposes).

This disqualification provision only comes into consideration if the member travelled by a route which is less direct than another available route.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary includes the following definition of 'direct':

1 extending or moving in a straight line or by the shortest route; not crooked or circuitous.