DISABILITY MANAGEMENT FOR NON-OCCUPATIONAL …

1 DISABILITY MANAGEMENT FOR. NON-OCCUPATIONAL injuries / illnesses . By Rich Pimentel Milt Wright & Associates Inc Transitional Employment is traditionally designed to provide return-to-work opportunities for employees who become injured or ill on the job. At some point, each employer who implements a transitional employment program will be faced with the decision of whether to offer transitional employment to both occupationally and non-occupationally injured/ill employees. While the model works for both, there are significant issues that must be considered with any integrated occupational / NON-OCCUPATIONAL return-to-work process. An employer can make the best decision for its needs and circumstances by comparing and contrasting the elements of occupational (Workers' Compensation) and NON-OCCUPATIONAL return to work. The following elements are examined in this section: 1.

2 Employee Motivation 2. Medical Confidentiality and Access to Information 3. Employer Benefits 4. Work as Therapy 5. Transitional Employment Assignments -1- EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION. WORKERS' COMPENSATION NON-OCCUPATIONAL . The employee who is injured on the job is While the employee who becomes ill or often an ideal candidate for a DISABILITY injured off the job generally can benefit from MANAGEMENT Return-to-Work Program. a DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Return-to-work Program, the motivation for the employee to Generally the injury is a result of some participate in the Program and the leverage trauma that does not allow the employee to the employer has to require him or her to return immediately to his or her regular cooperate is not clear-cut. Consider the duties. Overall, there are far more work- following issues: related injuries than illnesses .

3 The nature of NON-OCCUPATIONAL problems The return-to-work process increases the is that there are far more illnesses than recovery and work morale of the employee. injuries . Arthritis, diabetes, clinical The following elements are factors that depression, cancer, heart disease and increase employee motivation to actively high blood pressure are common non- participate: occupational illnesses . Often, in these cases, the inability to perform regular Transitional Employment serves as a bridge work duties is of secondary importance in the recovery process for the employee to to the need for treatment for occasionally transition to his or her regular duties. life threatening and long-term health considerations. Because of this, any The employer is involved from day one and pressure from an employer for the the information supplied to the claims employee to return to work might be seen representative focuses on what activities the employee can and cannot do.

4 As invasive and/or insensitive. Employee education is used to help the You may need to overcome the employee gain an understanding that employee's perspective that sick days . Transitional Employment helps both the and short or long-term DISABILITY are employee and the employer. generally seen more as an employee's right than time loss payments from The best DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Program Workers' Compensation. operates with the cooperation and support of the injured employee. FMLA supports the idea of not requiring an ill or injured employee to accept a Injured employees quickly fall into step modified or Transitional Employment with the logic that if there is work available that they could perform, the employer may assignment, the employer will need to require their cooperation in a return-to-work provide employee training on the effort.

5 Availability of Transitional Employment and the benefits of participating in a The Workers' Compensation system has built in DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Return-to-Work leverage to enforce cooperation by allowing Program. time loss benefits to be reduced or suspended for non-cooperation. COPYRIGHT MILT WRIGHT & ASSOCIATES 2003 1-800-626-3939. -2- MEDICAL CONFIDENTIALITY AND. ACCESS TO INFORMATION. WORKERS' COMPENSATION NON-OCCUPATIONAL . One of the realities of medical information In the case of NON-OCCUPATIONAL illnesses in Workers' Compensation is that because of and injuries , employers are much more the Workers' Compensation claim, restricted in their access to medical employers with an active DISABILITY information. The new HIPPA regulations MANAGEMENT Return-to-Work Program have further limit the kinds of medical a need to know an injured employee's work information an employer might have related condition.

6 This (or related) access to. information is vital to determining if the employee could benefit from a Transitional This restriction makes it more difficult to Employment assignment, and is crucial to determine which employees may or may Transitional Employment assignment not benefit from return to work. In design. addition, it can make early identification of return to work candidates problematic. Access to medical information is vital to a Therefore, consider the following issues: timely DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Return-to- Work Program, and the Workers' Obtain a medical release form from Compensation system is designed to provide employees with a NON-OCCUPATIONAL the employer with this information as a medical condition who wish to return-to-work tool. For example: participate in a DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Return-to-Work Program. This will Changes in an employee's medical enable the employer to gather the condition are often updated weekly by information necessary to determine the physician, with the Transitional suitability of the Program, and as Employment Plan reflecting those appropriate the design of Transitional changes.

7 Employment assignments. If current information is not available or If the physician is slow to respond or there is a question about the employee's is non-cooperative in the DISABILITY condition that relates to return to work, MANAGEMENT return-to-work process, an appointment with the physician can the employer has few, if any, options be scheduled by the claims to expedite the process. Therefore it representative to obtain a quick answer. is important that any employee who requests Transitional Employment If medical information from a physician communicate with their physician that is delayed, a call from the DISABILITY this Program is something that he or manager can be arranged to expedite the she wants to do. process; or in some cases, an Independent Medical Examination can be required. Copyright Milt Wright & Associates 2003 1-800-626-3939.

8 -3- EMPLOYER BENEFITS. WORKERS' COMPENSATION NON-OCCUPATIONAL . Both Workers' Compensation costs and Direct and indirect savings associated with Workers' Compensation savings are easy to NON-OCCUPATIONAL return to work will be identify at the organizational and difficult to identify and measure. Because department level. This is partly due to time medical coverage is paid as a group and is loss and medical costs being combined into generally not broken down on a case-by- one total for Workers' Compensation case basis, medical cost savings are hard to expense. identify. If there are savings, they may not be passed on to the individual departments The direct costs of employees being off at all. work/at home are obvious to both MANAGEMENT and supervision. For Sick days are generally considered an example: entitlement, and short and long-term DISABILITY premiums are often unaffected by The direct saving results of a DISABILITY DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Programs except in MANAGEMENT Program for the long run.

9 Occupationally injured employees can be measured as early as six months into Since cost savings, direct and indirect, are the Program, and sometimes even on a more difficult to identify with non- case-by-case basis. occupational return to work, MANAGEMENT motivation and support of return to work Because a Workers' Compensation for this group falls more into the category DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Program often of doing the right thing or helping allows the employee to return within employees retain their income and security. hours or days of an injury, the indirect cost benefits of having the employee To obtain MANAGEMENT support for a non- back at work doing something occupational injury/illness DISABILITY productive are obvious and often MANAGEMENT Return-to-Work Program, it dramatic. is often necessary to emphasize the Program's potential for helping retain good The overall positive results serve as both a employees and improving morale.

10 Motivation and ongoing reinforcement for MANAGEMENT , supervisor and employee participation and support of the Program. Copyright Milt Wright & Associates 2003. 1-800-626-3939. -4- WORK AS THERAPY AND PHYSICIAN INVOLVEMENT. WORKERS' COMPENSATION NON-OCCUPATIONAL . occupational medicine generally When a non-occupationally injured or ill understands and endorses the concept of employee asks to participate in a DISABILITY work as therapy. occupational MANAGEMENT Program, the employer may physicians are used to working with need to educate the NON-OCCUPATIONAL employers and their DISABILITY physician about the DISABILITY MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT Programs. Program as well as the goals of work as therapy. This education is critical. Work as therapy is well respected in Consider the following issues: occupational medicine for a number of reasons.