Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Update 

You might be aware that OSOT participates in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Forum which is a collective of representation from several health professions. In 2021, the WSIB procured a health care consultant to review their community-based programs and services, and engaged feedback from members. The consultation process included internal and external stakeholder focus groups, jurisdictional scans of national and international worker’s compensation board materials, and research on best practices. The following are the results of the review. There are likely to be changes that will positively impact occupational therapists working with WSIB clients and those who may be interested in doing so.

Recommendations were made around the following themes:

• Program re-design to drive accountability and improve outcomes
• Collaboration and engagement with health care professionals
• A transparent and effective model for establishing fees

The following recommendations were concluded:

• Minimize barriers to early access of care, including streamlining the approval process and leveraging best practices in virtual care
• Align programs of care to ensure consistent and clear processes, and reduce the administrative burden
• Create a structure for delivering care for injury types that are not currently within the scope of the programs of care, including an effective triaging model to complex care bundled models in the community or within tertiary care where appropriate
• Explore opportunities that further drive accountability, and clearly outline required qualifications, standards and performance expectations
• Improve the assessment and reporting of functional abilities and enable better collaboration with WSIB and employers around the job duties
• Improve quality through the sharing of process and outcome metrics with associations and providers, and explore ways to incentivize key quality indicators
• Review program and fee schedules to adopt a model that ensures quality care through more competitive rates, improves transparency and reduces administration
• Bundled programs should continue to be the preferred service delivery model where appropriate
• Better leverage collaborative partnerships to expand professional education, in areas such as clinical competency in occupational rehabilitation
• Explore technology-enabled information exchange and review processes and roles to ensure timely and effective communication