Milliman, Inc has just released a study that shows that Paradigm Management Services has remarkable rates of return to work for catastrophic and complex claims when compared to a benchmark database of 60,000 similar claims. Paradigm was five times more successful in getting patients released to return to work, 5 time better in getting patients returned to work, and 13 times better in getting employees returned to work in full-duty. The study notes that 20% of the Paradigm cases returned to work in full duty capacity compared to 1.5% of the benchmark claims.
Those are some pretty impressive numbers because just one catastrophic claim can have a serious impact on an organization’s bottom line. But the costs go well beyond the financial – the harsh reality of a debilitating, life changing injury can have a profound effect on the worker who suffered the injury and on the injured worker’s family and work colleagues. One problem that plagues workers comp all too often is that people tend to view it as a financial transaction when at its very heart, it is a human event. We’ve found that if you take care of the human event, the dollars and cents generally follow.
Most work injuries are relatively minor – soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains, abrasions, cuts, burns. Most workers can be restored to good health and resume normal life and work activities within a few days. About one in every 4 or 5 injuries requires some degree of lost time, but even the bulk of those generally only require a matter of days or weeks. According to Paradigm, catastrophic injuries are 1/10 of 1% of all workers compensation claims, but can account for 30% of total medical dollars paid.
For this small percentage of injuries, the injured employee won’t be able to resume “normal” life activities, at least in the sense of pre-injury levels. These types of injuries include spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, severe burns, amputation, and multiple trauma. Think the workplace equivalent of war injuries. These injuries are complex and costly, requiring sophisticated medical care and rehabilitative services.
Paradigm offers some good advice on managing catastrophic claims – see Managing Catastrophic Injuries, a handout by Jo Carter, RN, BSN, CCM from a recent presentation. It outlines some of the issues and best practices, and gives a window into why and how Paradigm is achieving impressive outcomes.
For more on the importance of return to work, we highly recommend the ACOEM Guideline Preventing Needless Work Disability by Helping People Stay Employed (PDF). This is a workers compensation “must read,” authored by occupational physicians.
