Disability Management Services 

Consultation/Education Services

Disability Management Services are available to provide consultation and training services in the following areas:

Development and implementation of integrated disability management programs
Integrated disability management programs allow an employer to incorporate all disability and work related benefit programs into one disability management program in order to control these costs more directly. Through integration of all disability, medical and worker's compensation benefit administration, these costs are more easily controlled and regulated. The trend for employers is to develop integrated disability management programs to enable 24-hour coverage of benefits for employees.

ADA Compliance Issues
Title I - Employment Title requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with physical limitations to enable these individuals to perform the essential functions of their jobs. Although this act involves more details, this is the basic component on which employers would be trained.

Development and implementation of transitional return to work programs
Transitional return to work programs allow an employer to return injured or ill employees to the original (or as close to the original) position as possible on a graduated basis and in accordance with the medical-physical work restrictions as determined by the treating physician. A job analysis of the position is completed to identify the physical demands of the job and transitional work duties. As the injured employee continues to recover from the injury, the physician allows the employee to gradually increase the job duties until, ideally, the injured employee is returned to the original injury. Transitional work is becoming more favorable for employers as it allows the employee to remain involved in his or her recovery while maintaining working relationships and staying on the job.

Education/Training for all stakeholders
The success of a disability management program for an employer is dependent upon all stakeholders (employer, employee, supervisors, manager, HR department, safety, MD, claims personnel, etc.) being trained on the program components and requirements. Disability Management Services will provide all training on any program that is established for all stakeholders of a company.

Job Descriptions and Job Analyses
Job descriptions review the components of positions to identify physical demands of the jobs and essential and non-essential job functions, qualifications to perform the jobs, and other miscellaneous information important to the employer to develop and maintain a qualified employee base. This information is used to evaluate the performance of employees, to identify reasonable accommodations for transitional work duties or modified duties, on the hiring of qualified personnel, etc. A job analysis is a structured method of reviewing the physical components of jobs by evaluating specific elements such as lifting requirements; sitting, standing, walking, pushing and pulling tolerances; environmental factors and hazards and risks. Information obtained from the job analysis is often used to complete the job descriptions.

Ergonomic Evaluations
With ergonomic considerations becoming more prevalent, employers will be increasingly faced with providing work site ergonomic modifications for employees to avoid or reduce the incidence of muscular skeletal disorders. Disability Management Services has partnered with HealthSouth and the NC Ergonomics Resource Center to provide this needed service. 

Sensitivity training on disabilities for employees and managers
This training is important for employees and managers in light of the ADA. It provides guidance on the appropriate manner with which to work and communicate with persons with disabilities. It is based on the concept that an employer is better equipped to accommodate, hire and train persons with disabilities if they are prepared with the knowledge of appropriate information on disabilities and those who have disabilities.

Injury Prevention
This component of the program involves safety training, body mechanics training, back injury prevention, cumulative trauma disorders training and ergonomics consulting. These services are designed to educate and train employers on the prevention of injuries as a valuable effort to reduce work related injuries and the increasing costs associated with these.

Hospital Bill Review
This service is designed to provide employers with a line by line review of all medical and hospital bills to determine overcharges for medical services. In the event that there are overcharges, an employer may be reimbursed the difference thus resulting in cost savings to the organization. A licensed physician conducts Bill reviews.

Case Management and Prevention Services

Medical Case Management
Case management services have been shown in recent surveys to provide a $30.00 savings for every $1.00 spent on disability lines to employers who utilize disability benefits for employees. Based on this finding and statistic, it is very important to realize the benefit of case management services. All CCM consultants are trained in rehabilitation and are either certified Masters level specialists or certified registered nurses. Case management services allow for continuity of care, on-going communication and expeditious resolution of claims for employers.

Case management services also allow for the identification of return to work options following an injury or illness in accordance with medically prescribed work restrictions. These services would incorporate job analyses, job descriptions, job modifications, etc. The benefit of on-going communication with all parties ensures a successful program outcome.

Vocational Assessment
Vocational Assessments identify an employee’s current aptitudes, interests and transferable skills when considering a return to his or her original job or to an alternative job when assigned medical restrictions prevent a return to this position. An assessment of the injured or ill employee’s transferable skills may make the difference between maintaining a valuable employee or having to lose this employee when job modifications are not feasible. CCM has a variety of assessment tools with which to identify academic and vocational aptitudes, interests, skills, and job transferability.

Job Placement Services
CCM has traditionally provided this service to employers who are not able to accommodate an injured or ill employee due to permanent medical restrictions. Job placement services are necessary when a return to the original position of a modified position is not appropriate with the original employer. Under NC Worker’s Compensation law, en employer is required to provide job placement assistance to injured employees when a return to the original or modified position is not suitable.

Vocational assessment and job placement services may be provided to employers who may face corporate downsizing or a reduction in force for employees who may lose their jobs.

Post-Offer/Pre-Employment Services

These services are perhaps the most important of all of the Disability Management Services program service components. Included in this category are drug testing and screening services, physical abilities testing to identify a potential employee’s physical ability to perform the essential functions of a job prior to employment, cumulative trauma disorders screening and prevention services and background investigations.

Post-offer pre-placement services allow employers to properly and legally identify suitable employees and to screen out potential problem areas prior to allowing an individual to start employment. Through CCM’s cooperative efforts with CSS, Inc. HealthSouth, and the NC Ergonomics Resource Center, our Disability Management Services program is able to offer employers extremely valuable tools and services by which to reduce the increasing costs of disability and to prevent injuries or illnesses from occurring in the first place.