New regulations: Costs associated with permanent impairment assessment

(16 December 2025)

The Return to Work (Permanent Impairment Assessment Costs) Amendment Regulations 2025 came into effect on 11 December 2025.

Summary of the new regulations relating to permanent impairment assessments

During consultation on the Third Edition of the Impairment Assessment Guidelines (the Guidelines), stakeholders raised a concern with the Stakeholder Representative Consultation Group (SRCG) that there was uncertainty in the legislation as to who is liable to pay for medical diagnostic testing in circumstances where a worker undergoes a permanent impairment assessment and is outside their medical expenses entitlement period.

In response to this stakeholder feedback, new regulations have been inserted into the Return to Work Regulations 2015 which are aimed at providing certainty that, where an injured worker undergoes a permanent impairment assessment, the relevant compensating authority (ReturnToWorkSA or a self-insured employer) is to pay for:

• the reasonable costs of diagnostic tests or medical investigations required or recommended by the Impairment Assessment Guidelines for the purposes of a permanent impairment assessment
• any necessary costs reasonably incurred by the worker for required accommodation and travel related to attending those tests or medical investigations.

These provisions apply even when the worker’s medical expenses entitlement period has ended.

These new regulations provide certainty for workers, who undergo a permanent impairment assessment, that certain costs relating to that assessment will be covered by the compensating authority. This includes necessary costs (subject to prescribed maximum amounts) reasonably incurred by the worker for accommodation and travel required to attend the diagnostic test or medical investigation.

ReturnToWorkSA would like to recognise and thank stakeholders who provided their insights and feedback to the SRCG which assisted in the development of these new regulations.