Medication Management Best Practices

Turning policy into practice for safer prescribing in workers’ comp and CTP

In this episode of The Irregular Dose, we explore the foundational guidelines set out in the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) Medication Management Best Practice Guide, released in July 2020. While not new, these recommendations remain a critical benchmark for how medications—especially high-risk drugs like opioids and benzodiazepines—should be managed across the Workers’ Compensation (WC) and Compulsory Third Party (CTP) schemes.

The guide covers everything from rational prescribing and PBS alignment, to the need for regular medication reviews, improved monitoring practices, and even standardised pharmacy invoicing—all aimed at improving safety and return-to-function outcomes for injured individuals.

But four years on, how much of this has actually been implemented?

We look at how far the industry has come, where the gaps remain, and how organisations like Independent Med Management (IMM) are taking the guide’s recommendations and turning them into scalable clinical practice—especially through pharmacist-led reviews, deprescribing initiatives, and cannabis oversight programs.

In this episode:

• A breakdown of SIRA’s 2020 medication best practice framework
• Why opioids and benzos are still a frontline issue in NSW claims
• How medication reviews are positioned in the guide—and who’s doing them
• PBS application in private injury claims: what’s encouraged vs. reality
• IMM’s approach to operationalising these principles
• The missed opportunities in standardised invoicing and clinical oversight