Use of clinical guidelines for whiplash by insurers

To describe the opinions of, use of, and compliance with guidelines for whiplash associated disorders (whiplash) by insurance staff after an implementation program.

Observational design using questionnaires.

Insurance offices in New South Wales, Australia.

138 insurance staff (60% response rate) working in compulsory third party (CTP) claims for the 8 CTP insurers in NSW.

Responses were collected after an implementation program that included education workshops provided by an insurance regulator and by insurance staff trained by the regulator.

After implementation, 73% were aware of the CTP guidelines for whiplash, 85% had access to them, and compliance with the recommendations was 71%. Awareness of, and compliance with the guidelines was not related to attending the regulator workshop (P = 1.0). Insurance staff found the guidelines to be helpful, with the mean ratings for relevance to work and in managing claims being 7.8/10 and 6.9/10, respectively.

Awareness of, and compliance with guidelines for whiplash among insurance staff was high after the implementation program, but was not related to attending the regulator workshop. Compliance may be improved by addressing the barriers nominated by the participants. Developing a specific guideline for the insurer market was considered useful.