The Insider has long puzzled over the decision-making process of doctors treating injured workers. Why do they rely so heavily on expensive pain killers when over-the-counter medicine might do the job just as well? Why do they choose one knee replacement part over another? Why are so many doctors quick to certify a disability, when the injured worker retains much of his or her ability to function? Why do so many doctors fail to see the relationship between being productive and being healthy?
As fellow-blogger Julie Ferguson pointed out yesterday, twenty one doctors with an interest in occupational medicine have published a fascinating report on the medical aspects of disability. Their white paper is entitled: Preventing Needless Work Disability by Helping People Stay Employed. It’s a must read. From our perspective, the white paper is a 52 page symphony, closely aligning all the disparate players in the disability world. These doctors, affiliated with the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), understand the problem and they propose realistic solutions.
Medically Unnecessary Disability
The white paper affirms what many of us in the field have long suspected: most time away from work due to a disability is medically unnecessary. You might want to read that line again: in most cases, it’s not medical necessity that causes people to miss work. They are absent because of a host of issues involving insurance, work culture, medical practice and bureaucracies. At her own website, Webility MD, Dr. Jennifer Christian, one of the principle authors of the report, summarizes the difference between what is medically necessary and medically unnecessary as follows:
Medically-necessary disability is time away from work because:
- work is medically contraindicated, or
- therapy or recovery requires confinement to home or bed, or
- there is no practical way to keep a vulnerable employee safe at work.
Medically-unnecessary disability is time away from work due to the interplay of the following non-medical features:
- employers and physicians communicate poorly about injured and ill employees’ ability to work
- employers fail to address environmental and motivational problems, causing injured employees to stay out of work longer than medically necessary
- physicians do not see disability as an outcome for which they are responsible.
The Paradigm for Occ Med
The white paper describes in compelling detail the many factors that prevent the medical delivery system from carrying out its fundamental role: “do no harm.” If a doctor enables an injured worker to become a disabled person, he or she has indeed done much harm. The goal should always be to keep disabled people working: rather than fitting the injured worker to the benefit (workers comp, STD/LTD), keep the focus where it belongs: Staying at work. And for those who must lose some time, returning them to productive employment as quickly as possible.
This draft paper is worthy of widespread attention, not just among professionals who are directly involved in medical services, but among all of us who struggle with the issues of risk management, disability management and productivity in the workplace. The paper does not place the entire responsibility for fixing the current problems on the medical system. Insurers have a role, as do the employers whose workers are injured. Right now, it often seems that every special interest pulls in a separate direction. This white paper is a blueprint for bringing us back together, where we truly belong.
