Benefits of the Nurse Triage Approach to Workplace Injuries
Employees obtain immediate medical attention from a trained occupational health professional. They love the new benefit that helps them deal with their pain. Extensive data shows that costs are much less than a visit to a hospital or clinic. Supervisors no longer need to be solely responsible for making the medical assessments of injured employees with all the awkwardness of the work relationship. Employees are soft-channeled to a designated medical facility, usually an occupation health clinic, identified in advance by the employer location.
The initial triage report from the nurse is faxed to the designated medical facility before the employee arrives – reducing the time an employee waits to be treated while shortening the time away from work. The paperwork is begun and emailed at the conclusion of the call.
All calls are recorded and the nurse is well-trained and personable when asking a series of questions to get at the cause of the injury. This locks an employee to a story at the time of the workplace injury. It may make all the difference in avoiding a runaway case. Employers can identify specific loss control oriented questions for certain types of injuries, use of personal protective equipment for example.
The results of the triage process can be measured and the ROI is compelling. It reduces the actual number of claims handled because as many as 50% of the calls result in a non-referral to an outside metical provider. Good triage has been shown to lower the ultimate cost of a claim by driving more accountability. It cuts the number of instances where the ‘story’ or nature of the injury or body part changes. Soft-channeling by the nurse increases utilization of discounted network providers typically saving 25% per bill. The return on investment is often $3 – $5 for every dollar invested.
Author: Brian Cullen ARM, CLIC, Executive Director with Medcor has joined our list of guest bloggers. He can be contacted at 630-240-6741 or bcullen@medcor.com
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