MLC Life Insurance is announcing a partnership with pain management specialist Beyond Pain to help customers suffering from chronic pain, chronic fatigue and mental illness return to work after making a life insurance claim.

The partnership coincides with National Pain Week in Australia, which recognises the 1 in 5 Australians who live with chronic pain, including adolescents and children. 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 live with chronic pain, and it is one of the fastest growing medical conditions in Australia.

A key element of the partnership is to offer all customers on claim access to Beyond Pain’s Pain-Assist program, which is revolutionising the delivery of pain management services in Australia. The tailored pain coaching program is offered via telehealth to customers irrespective of their location, under the guidance of an experienced interdisciplinary pain management team. It has been hugely successful across the life insurance sector.

To date, more than 50 MLC Life Insurance customers on an income protection claim have benefited from Beyond Pain’s engagement. 74% of customers that have been referred to Beyond Pain have achieved their recovery goals, some of which include a return to work in 66% of cases.

Jane Dorter, Chief Claims Officer, MLC Life Insurance, said:

“We see the impact that chronic pain has on our customers every single day through the claims we support.”

“Our purpose is to help our customers better understand and manage their condition and ultimately have the confidence to return to optimal health and their work. While we’re here to protect our customers financially, we also want to support their overall wellbeing and provide tangible solutions that make a difference. Beyond Pain assists us to deliver this help when our customers need it most.”

According to Beyond Pain founder Anjelo Ratnachandra, the program’s focus is to improve functional capacity rather than specifically reducing pain.

“Too many programs use pain as a measure of efficacy, but the research suggests that the greater the frequency on pain reporting, the worse the pain scores. We instead focus on functional gains, helping people to get back to their lives (including work) despite the pain.”

“In developing the program, we looked at what we had wanted in a rehab program as service users ourselves. Our collective experience was that many programs are too clinical and didactic in their approach, and often clients are left feeling somewhat helpless with no clear direction. As such, we felt the purpose of the program should be to instil self-belief, and to humanise the rehab experience.”

The program is offered to all customers who have made an income protection claim at MLC Life Insurance.