“Off-Work” disability doctor notes from employees stipulate that employers allow injured workers to stay off work due to a work-related injury. These notes include such things a “work status note,” “off work slip,” “disability note,” or even a “functional capacity worksheet.”  While many disability notes are valid, sometimes these notes are vague and unclear why the employee still needs to be off work.

The purpose of disability slips is to advise the employer when the medical provider does not believe the injured employee can do any work in their current medical status or is able to work only in a restricted capacity.  Running an effective workers’ compensation program requires employers and other interested stakeholders have clarity, conform to the law, and help get that employee back to work promptly.

Demanding the Basics for Injured Employee Disability

The quality of the disability slips covers the spectrum from telling the employer everything about the injured employee’s injury and disability, to telling them nothing at all. The lack of uniformity can create issues for the employer in tracking the status of the injured employees.

Some jurisdictions have minimum requirements when it comes to disability slips following a work injury.  Florida’s Division of Workers Compensation mandates every medical provider use the same Medical Treatment Status Reporting Form, DWC-25.  This form serves two purposes.  It requires the health care provider to outline the functional status of an injured employee, and report their treatment plan.  Even if a jurisdiction does not require a form to be completed, the interested stakeholder can take proactive action to demand it.

Avoid Employee-Determined “Off-Work” Status

When the medical provider does not provide the “off-work” slip, and the employer does not ask, the employee becomes the person determining when the employee will return to work. This is not a good situation for all interested stakeholders and turns workers’ compensation into an entitlement program.  Proactive employers should require a disability slip be turned in by the employee after every medical appointment.  This information encourages timely return-to-work and holds everyone accountable.

In some jurisdictions, the state department overseeing the workers’ compensation program can help employers obtain this information.  In Minnesota, a Health Care Provider Report is required to be completed and returned within 10 days of receipt by a medical provider.  The Department of Labor and Industry will follow-up with medical providers when such form is submitted.  Failure to respond can result in a penalty being assessed against the medical provider.

Take Charge with the Medical Provider

If the medical provider treating the employee is sending an off-work slip that states “no work until seen by this office again,” with no further information, the employer needs to take charge and advise the medical provider’s office more information needs to be provided.   At a minimum, the off-work slip should provide the date of the next office visit and the employee’s current physical limitations.  Basic information that should always be included should have the following:

• The employee’s name
• The date of the office visit
• Whether the office visit was work-related
• Objective findings
• Diagnosis and prognosis
• The existence of a pre-existing condition
• The specific nature of any functional limitations, for example:
  • No bending
  • No carrying over ____ pounds
  • No climbing
  • No kneeling
  • No lifting over _____ pounds
  • Standing limitation ________
  • Sitting limitation _________
  • Walking limitation _________
  • Other relevant limitations
• Date of next office visit
• Anticipated full duty date
• Anticipated date of Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)
• Date of next appointment
• Anticipated treatment plan
• Doctor or health care providers signature

Help Me, Help You!

Medical providers are in the business of providing medical care, and often have no knowledge about the employer’s business.  It is important for employers to let medical providers know about their business and the employee’s pre-injury position.  Relevant information to send can include a job description or video of the work the employee will be expected to perform.  This will allow the doctor or health care provider to better understand the employee’s job and its physical requirements.

Conclusions

Employers need to take the lead when it comes to returning employees to work following a work injury.  One important step in this process is making sure health care providers are properly completing disability slips with specifies about the employee’s restrictions and/or limitations.  By demanding this information, employers can receive a more honest assessment of the employee’s ability to work rather than letting the employee drive their time off work.  It will also reduce workers’ compensation program costs in the long run.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a co-author of Your Ultimate Guide To Mastering Workers Comp Costs, a comprehensive step-by-step manual of cost containment strategies based on hands-on field experience, and is founder & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center .

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: http://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2019 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

The injured employee is the reason workers’ compensation laws exist.  Without employees and their sacrifice, businesses would not accomplish their goal.  Now is the time for every member of the claim management team to approach claims with this critical mindset.

Forget the Golden Rule – Follow the Platinum Rule!

The “Golden Rule” taught us to “treating others as one’s self would wish to be treated.”  This is a common denominator handed down in both secular and religious societies. The problem with this Rule when applied to workers’ compensation claims is it view things from the perspective of the claim handler.  Now is the time for members of the claim management team to put themselves in the shoes of the injured employee, and follow the Platinum Rule – To treat others as you would want to be treated!

By adopting this mindset, one will realize the following:

• Being a true professional in every sense of the word is essential;

• Treating all employees – regardless of ability with the respect and dignity they deserve is essential; and

• Engaging every claim with good faith, fair dealing, and placing ethics at the pinnacle of every decision is essential.

Protecting the Injured Employee Through Injury Prevention

Members of the claim management team can be proactive when it comes to preventing injuries in the workplace.  This can include educating their insureds on best safety practices.  Their obligations also extend to their post-injury response.  Here are some important steps include in every workers’ compensation claim:

• Avoid unfair claims practices and bad faith denials;

• Complete a timely and thorough investigation of all injuries;

• Not exploited the financial vulnerabilities of policyholders;

• Not make unreasonable demands on the policyholder during the claim process; and

• Take all reasonable steps to preserve evidence.

Employers also play a role in this process.  It must include promoting a culture of safety.  Steps should include:

• Evaluate workplace ergonomics continually;

• Allow regular breaks for employee – especially those performing repetitive tasks;

• Ensure the proper use of machinery, tools, and safety equipment – never cut corners; and

• Lead by example!

Getting the Injured Employee Back to Work

Interested stakeholders need to take the lead on return-to-work issues and dispel the common myths that prevent employers from protecting their MVPs.  Common misconceptions of injured employees include:

• Injured employees are lazy – they sit around all day and do nothing;

• Injured employees would rather stay at home;

• Injured employees will only get re-injured – we need to get a voluntary resignation on every workers’ compensation claim; and

• Injured workers receiving Social Security Disability are not allowed to return-to-work.

FACT: A vast majority of injured employees would rather get back to work.  Getting them back to work can reduce program costs. 

The challenge of effective return-to-work requires all interested stakeholders to move past the physical, educational, medical, and emotional barriers inherent in the workers; compensation system.  Important steps to consider include:

• Communication with the injured worker. This can include having a dedicated liaison for any employee off work.  Employers can buy goodwill by returning phone calls from an employee not able to work due to restriction.  They should also be proactive in initiating contact with an employee.

• Communication with treating doctor. A return-to-work liaison can also serve as a point of contact with the employee’s treating physician.  This can also include making certain communications between the physician and workers’ compensation insurer is taking place.

• Providing legitimate written job offers. The requirements of job offers vary in each jurisdiction.  It is important specific elements are satisfied.  There are other legal requirements where consultation with an attorney may help facilitate this objective.

Interested stakeholders should also consider learning more about, and implementing a “Work on Loan” program, or hiring an injured employee through the Social Security Administration’s “Ticket to Work” program.

Conclusions

Employees are of paramount importance to every workers’ compensation program.  Treat them respect and dignity.  To run an effective and efficient program, interested stakeholders need to understand their claims, assess and evaluate risks, and look for opportunities to engage all parties in the process.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a co-author of Your Ultimate Guide To Mastering Workers Comp Costs, a comprehensive step-by-step manual of cost containment strategies based on hands-on field experience, and is founder & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center .

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2019 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

Hey there, Michael Stack here, CEO of Amaxx. This past weekend, over the Labor Day Weekend, my family and I spent a couple days in Washington DC, our nation’s capital. Now, our visit happened to coincide with the funeral services for Senator John McCain, to honor his life and his legacy.

Senator McCain Was Maverick of the Senate

Now Senator McCain was known as the maverick of the senates. Now, there were several reasons for that and very specific, instances where he earned that nock name and that reputation. But, the primary reason was, Senator McCain did things differently and took a path often different than the way things had always been done.

Senator McCain earned that reputation, earned that nick name as maverick because he did things differently than the way things had always been done. It earned him a tremendous life and a tremendous and highly respected career. If you look at your organization and worker’s compensation, I want to speak to very specific practices that may be happening within your company, very negative practices.

Do Things Differently Than Have Always Been Done

First one is punishing injured workers for filing claims, punishing injured workers for filing claims. The other side is encouraging injured workers, or encouraging employees not to file a claim at all. You may know in your heart, and of course, there’s tremendous data and research to back this up, that that’s not the right thing to do.

You’re serving up high workers comp cost, you’re serving up poor injured worker outcomes on a silver platter to your organization by doing either one or both of these two practices. But,it;s the way it’s always been done at your organization. I want to encourage today to take inspiration from Senator McCain’s life and legacy to change those practices. Those two very specific practices, to change those practices within your organization because when you do, you’ll be putting your program on the right track. To improve those injured worker outcomes and drastically drive down your worker’s comp cost.

Get on Michael Stack, CEO of Amaxx and remember, your work today and worker’s compensation can have a dramatic impact on your company’s bottom line, but it will have a dramatic impact on someone’s life, so be great.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a co-author of Your Ultimate Guide To Mastering Workers Comp Costs, a comprehensive step-by-step manual of cost containment strategies based on hands-on field experience, and is founder & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center .

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

As an employer, you often hear the recommendation “stay involved in your workers’ compensation claims.” That is great advice, but way too often it’s where the discussion ends without any explanation as to what “staying involved” means.

Four Phases of Employer Involvement in Workers’ Comp Claim

The employer’s involvement in the workers’ comp claim begins before the injury occurs and ends when the employee is back at work, fully recovered from the injury. Let’s first look at four phases of employer’s involvement in the workers’ comp claim, then we will look at what the employer cannot do in regards to the workers’ comp claims.

The four phases are:

1. Pre-injury process
2. The injury occurrence
3. The claim process
4. The claim settlement

If you have employees, sooner or later an employee is injured on the job. The following are some suggestions about what you can do prior to the injury occurring that will impact on the outcome of the workers’ comp claim. Make sure you have “touch points” for each phase of the claim.

Here is an example of what is appropriate:

• Provide each new hire with an employee accident brochure outlining what the employee should do in case of an accidental injury.

• Have a written transitional duty policy.

• Provide each supervisor within the company a written guide on how they are to report and be involved in workers comp claims.

• Post the injury procedure policy where all employees will see it.

• Have a published returned to work policy.

• Have a strong safety program and tie the manager’s performance evaluation, raise, bonus or promotion to his or her safety record.

• Have a medical provider network in place through your insurance company or join a medical provider network for self-insureds. Make sure all employees know about and use the network. This is called your “penetration” — you should have a penetration rate of > than 90%.

• Prevent fraud by letting all employees know workers comp fraud takes money away from their raises and bonuses.

• Put up posters reminding the employee that workers comp fraud is a crime and will be fully prosecuted.

• Post all the state required notices in a place convenient for all employees to see including workers comp laws, OSHA posters and anything else required in your state.

• Post a list of the required medical providers (where allowed by state statute) or recommended medical facilities (in the states where the employee is allowed to select their own doctor). Consider using an outcome-based network where providers with exemplary performance are included in the network.

Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker, and publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality, and manufacturing. She is the co-author of the #1 selling book on cost containment, Workers Compensation Management Program: Reduce Costs 20% to 50%. Contact:.

Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.

To have a successful, effective workers’ compensation program requires commitment from the entire organization, starting at the very top. Leaders must not only endorse the program but be engaged as well, for it to be of value to the company.

A lack of management support will be apparent to the rest of the workforce which won’t share your goals. But there are steps you can take to get leaders to fully embrace your injury management plan.

1. Speak their language

Getting the attention of management is largely a numbers game. Those in the C-suite need to understand the dollars and cents of an effective workers’ compensation program.

2. Play on what is important.

• Find out what matters most. Every organization has some way to determine its financial success. Find out what metric resonates most; the figure management discusses with shareholders, the board of directors or other senior managers. This could be
  • EBITDA: The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This is the company’s net income with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back in. It eliminates the effects of financing and accounting decisions. It shows the company’s current operating profitability, or how much profit it makes with its current assets and its operations on the products it produces and sells, as well as providing a proxy for cash flow.
  • Net income number. This refers to the profit made after the company subtracts its expenses. Where revenue is the company’s total sales and is known as the top line, net income is called the bottom line, or the company’s earnings.
  • Revenue from operations. This is the income generated from an organization’s daily core business operations and is also called operating revenue. It is the revenue posted from selling the company’s products and services.

• Calculate the potential savings. This requires figuring out the cost of a full-time equivalent employee, then determining the possible savings from reductions in workers’ compensation costs. For example, if the important metric is the EBITDA and you know that the cost per FTE over the past three years has been going up, cutting that number in half could potentially reduce the EBITDA number by X percent. You want to use the company’s most important metric to frame the amount of revenue the organization must generate to cover its workers’ compensation losses.

• Define the impact of a claim. Either by your own calculations or through e-mod software.

• Compare the cost of a claim to the expense of something the company wants. Say your company had a recent workers’ compensation claim that cost $575,000 and the company needs certain equipment that costs $500,000. Explain that improvements in your company’s injury management program could have prevented that claim to show the money for the equipment could have been available.

3. Produce evidence of wastefulness. Whether it is outright fraud or just a lax attitude toward safety, management responds to pictures and videos of employees that translate to a culture of uncaring about the organization’s resources.

4. Present the numbers. A well-run return-to-work program keeps injured workers on the job or gets them back to work quicker. But company leaders may not truly believe that unless you show them real numbers from research:

• Up to 80 percent of lost work days are unnecessary.
• Injured workers out of work and receiving indemnity payments are 4X more likely to have an unsatisfactory outcome. The same research found that employees with similar injuries who either stayed on the job or returned sooner had better outcomes.
• The chances of an injured worker returning to the workforce in any capacity drops by 50 percent after 12 weeks of being out of work.

5. Give hiring advice. Management will be more apt to listen to you if you can present a way to avoid hiring the company’s next workers’ compensation claim. An easy, fairly inexpensive way to make sure the right people get hired is through an integrity test, such as the Merchant’s Integrity Test.

This is not a personality test nor does it require complex algorithms to interpret the results. The questions are direct and aimed at predicting the likelihood of problem behaviors from the person.

There are 50 questions that have been vetted and updated. According to psychologists who have studied the test, it works because people who engage in ongoing risky behaviors eventually rationalize their behaviors and come to believe there is nothing wrong with their conduct. More than 90 percent of applicants tell the truth about their high-risk behaviors.

Avoiding problem hires is one of the best ways of reducing workers’ compensation costs. Tests from Cornell University and elsewhere have indicated applicants who took and passed the test had half as many workers’ compensation claims as those who did not take it.

Summary

Having an injury management program may sound like a good idea to managers, but to understand its true value to the company requires looking at the numbers. Taking those numbers to management to frame a conversation that is meaningful to the organization can get leaders to be onboard with your program.

Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%.  He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a co-author of Your Ultimate Guide To Mastering Workers Comp Costs, a comprehensive step-by-step manual of cost containment strategies based on hands-on field experience, and is founder & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center.

Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

Workers’ Comp Roundup Blog: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/

©2018 Amaxx LLC. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker, attorney, or qualified professional.