Suncorp says the way it manages personal injury claims could provide valuable lessons for the Federal Government’s new disability care and traumatic injury insurance schemes.

The insurer and PricewaterhouseCoopers are hosting special summit meetings to facilitate “constructive and collaborative dialogue around the effective design and implementation” of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the National Injury Insurance Scheme (NIIS).

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that by 2030 about 2.3 million Australians will have a high-level disability. The Productivity Commission says previous disability support services have been “fundamentally flawed and underfunded”.

Suncorp EGM Statutory Claims Paul Smeaton says the two schemes will face a number of challenges as they are implemented, “so it’s important that the experience of insurers like Suncorp is utilised for the benefit of the scheme and the people it’s designed to help”.

Last year Suncorp brought its workers’ compensation and compulsory third party operations into one statutory division – a move Mr Smeaton says “has had many benefits”.

“We are able to utilise the complexity and nuances of the various state-based personal injury schemes to drive national best practice in claims management,” he said.

Mr Smeaton says Suncorp has implemented improvements such as a centralised administration and a single claims management platform to streamline the personal injury claims process.