An article in today’s Baltimore Business Journal highlights a study by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the impact of disability on employers’ bottom lines.
It will come as no surprise to industry experts that disability costs a ton of money, both hard dollars and soft, for insurance premiums, wage replacement, medical expenses, replacement workers and lost productivity. And, while it is good to see ACOEM publicizing the real costs of disability, this is not something that has not been addressed by many employers and experts in the past.
Jennifer Christian, MD, is the most articulate and insightful expert on the role of the physician in disability management. Tom Lynch of Lynch Ryan is the industry’s leading expert on safety and return to work planning. There are any number of physicians in private practice who focus deeply on return to work – Jorge Trujillo and Yemi Owi are two occupational medicine physicians who focus on what the patient can do, rather than what they can’t, and as a result have a stellar record in this area. Choice Medical Management has proven that sending injured workers to the right docs can dramatically improve return to work results.
And I’ve argued till blue in the face that any group health payer that wants to really differentiate in the market can do so by demonstrating their impact on absenteeism and productivity. Here’s hoping that a nascent initiative to do just that (evaluating a large HMO’s impact on a large University) gets things rolling (I’m involved as the chief nag to keep things moving along).
Apr
18
