Quick return to work good for employee, too
Quick return to work good for employee, too
Occupational health professionals have long promoted a quick return to work as beneficial to the employer’s bottom line, but a new study reinforces the idea that it is good for the worker too.
"Safe early-return-to-work programs are in the best interest of patients," the Rosemont, IL-based American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says in a recent statement. Reduced costs to employers also follow, through cuts in disability payments, medical costs, absence from work, and insurance premiums, according to the group.
Staying out longer hurts more
The statement was issued in conjunction with a yearlong study in which researchers found that those who stay out of work longer suffer more emotionally and find it harder to get future employment compared with those who go back to work early.
"Patients with extended disability often become depressed and show decreased motivation, and their medical outcomes are usually worse than those of patients who participate in early-return-to-work programs," says J. Mark Melhorn, an orthopaedic surgeon at The Hand Center in Wichita, KS. The study was published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.1
But under the current Workers’ Compensation and Social Security systems, disabled workers are actually discouraged from going back to work, according to Melhorn. "To be eligible for disability benefits, a claimant must prove that he or she is unable to engage in any substantial gainful employment because of a medical impairment that is anticipated to continue for at least 12 months," he says.
On the other hand, to be eligible for job retraining — in the event that the injury, such as losing a limb, prohibits a person from going back to his or her specific duties — the claimant must demonstrate both the potential for work and that retraining would be beneficial, Melhorn explained.
He says both physicians and policy-makers need to address the issue and make changes in the current way injured workers are treated.
Reference
1. Melhorn JM. Workers’ compensation: Avoiding work-related disability. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2000; 8-A:1,490-1,493.
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