A significant portion of large workers' compensation claims can be reduced or eliminated through the proper use of a Return-to-Work program. The Risk Management Department should establish a transitional duty program and be sure it is implemented by all departments. It should start with the new hire package, explaining that all employees with a workers' compensation injury are expected to return to light duty work as soon as their doctor will permit them to do light duty work.
The adjuster, or the nurse case manager depending on how your program is set-up, should contact the treating physician the day the claim is reported and let the physician know light duty work is available to the employee. The longer the employee is totally off work, the more accustomed the employee becomes to watching daytime TV and living on the indemnity benefit. With the prompt return to work doing a light duty/modified duty/transitional duty program, the employee does not get acclimated to living on the workers' compensation indemnity benefit.
Every company can establish a transitional duty program. One long-haul trucking company with a self-funded their workers' compensation program, required their drivers who were placed on light duty and could not drive to report in to the terminal each day. They were then transported to a local Goodwill store where they sorted donated clothing. With their light duty clothes-sorting job they could sit, stand, walk around, etc. as needed to comply with their doctor's instructions on their activity. The drivers were paid the equivalent of what they would have made driving and the trucking company got a charitable contribution to write off. More importantly the transitional duty program prevented the drivers from expecting to draw work comp indemnity benefits for a long period of time.
When an employee is on transitional duty, make sure to follow the doctor's physical limitations closely. One way to escalate the cost of your work comp claims instead of reducing them is to have an employee's supervisor ignore the doctor's limitations and put the employee back to work on the employee's regular duties before the doctor has released the employee to full duty. In such a case, the employee may become upset and decide to retain an attorney. (workersxzcompxzkit)
Instead of getting the employee back to work sooner, the attorney – in order to increase his percentage fee – works to keep the employee off work longer than would otherwise be necessary. In addition, in the states where he can, the attorney will direct the employee to another doctor who the attorney knows will justify the employee staying off work. Of course, this new doctor for the employee will in the end give the employee a higher disability rating then the employee would normally have received from the original doctor.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers' Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-786-8286.
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