Delaware Requires Employers Job Lists To Treating Physician
The State of Delaware requires employers to initiate a great risk management technique. Return to work is one of the Five Keys To Saving On Workers Comp $. I have been writing, presenting, and blogging on these Five Keys for over 25 years. In study after study, files that have an element of return to work strategies overpay 400% on their claims.
The State of Delaware made a bold and very intelligent move to require employers to provide workers compensation treating physicians with a list of jobs available (along with restrictions/abilities).
Employers should have been doing this already as part of their Workers Compensation risk management program. It is very striking to me that even large sophisticated employers are not providing treating physicians with what I call a job bank to ease the transition from being temporarily totally disabled to at least a part-time light duty job.
One area that most states look at very closely and critically is make-work. States, especially in the Southeastern US, do not approve of a job that is made up out of thin air. These make-work created jobs are not looked well upon by Workers Comp judges.
Pre-established job banks will usually pass the make-work hurdle for return-to-work jobs. One of the main cost reductions is the rehabilitation nurse/field case manager fees. I have seen the rehab nurse:
- Interview the employer’s HR rep
StockUnlimited - Write the job description
- Have the HR department sign off on the job
- Take the job description to the next doctor’s appointment
- Have the treating physician sign off on the job
- Provide all parties with copies of the job description and sign-offs.
- Follow up with employer and employee once injured employee has returned to work.
At almost $100 an hour, the rehabilitation nurse will spend 20 or more hours going through this process. Rehab nurse are priceless to Workers Comp, but not in shuffling paperwork between the parties in a WC claim. The employer should have all light-duty jobs on file in the treating physician’s office – plain and simple. If not, get out the checkbook.
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