Disability Management /Return to Work: Raising the Bar
Next Generation Return to Work Programs
Best Practices and New Ideas That Actually Work

Executive Summary
Return to work is no longer just about saving workers' compensation dollars. Employers today are facing disability management challenges that were unforeseen just a decade ago. An aging workforce, coupled with a significant labor and skill shortage, have brought return to work out of the loss control closet and placed squarely in the company boardroom. Compliance with disability rights laws has demanded that return to work programs be administered in a consistent and non-discriminatory manner. Corporate occupational and non-occupational employee-related disability expenses are often one of the top three costs of doing business today. Managing these expenses, has become for many companies, the difference between a year-end profit and a year-end loss.

The next generation of return to work programs raises the bar for everyone involved in the process. Employers are raising the bar by turning what used to be a generalized return to work effort into a structured program with designated authority and responsibilities. Medical care providers are having the bar raised by being challenged to become an active partner in the return to work process. Disability and case management professionals are having the bar raised by the challenge of cutting down the paperwork and the lag time in communications with all parties. Employees are having the bar raised to make them as responsible for their return to work as they are for their own safety.

A day with Richard Pimentel will explore the next generation of return to work programs for:

Employers:

Developing consistency between policy and procedures.

Creating a team approach to return to work.

Measurement of success, both short and long term indices.

Balancing workers' compensation, The Americans with Disabilities Act, FMLA and HIPPA.

Removing built-in corporate disincentives at the local level to return to work efforts.

Integrating return to work programs and the occupational/non-occupational challenges of disability management.

Medical care providers:

Utilizing the therapeutic potentials of next generation return to work programs.
Improving communication with injured employees, employers and case managers.
Working as part of the disability management team.
Helping to coordinate medical case management on referrals to specialists.

Disability management and return to work specialists:

Improved communication with medical care providers.
Replacing traditional medical restriction forms with “return to work” proposals for faster and more accurate return to work assignments.
Triage the return to work process by assigning the return to work effort to the key personnel at the time that they can work most effectively with it, such as the supervisor or employer early after the injury, the disability manager or claims person later in the injury and the rehabilitation professional in the later stages.
Working with employers who have no formal return to work policy.

Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of seminar you will be able to:

Identify the four evolutionary stages of return to work program policies from punitive light duty to therapeutic transitional employment assignments.
Identify employer internal disincentives for the return to work process and develop ways to remove these disincentives and create incentives in their place.
Describe short- and long-term measurement indices for a successful return to work program.
Identify methods for expediting appropriate cooperative responses from medical care providers and employers in the return to work process.
Able to develop strategies to overcome resistance to return to work at the supervisor, management and employee level in employer organizations.