This article is a re-post from the Business Insurance Blog and has some great information detailing some ways that Employers can prevent chronic pain from turning into Insurance Claims.
Chronic pain is an infrequent but growing aspect of workers compensation claims, but employers need concrete programs with measurable outcomes to respond to and reduce those types of injuries. News and analysis about the legislative, legal and insurance market issues that affect workers compensation managers, as well as strategies for reducing comp claims and costs, promoting workplace safety and returning injured employees to work. Dr. Gary Franklin, medical director for the Department of Labor and Industries in Washington state, which administers the state-run workers compensation insurance fund, said experiencing chronic pain is equivalent to becoming disabled. From his experience, “everyone who who remains in the system (after five months) is disabled,” he said. “If you are not putting most of your effort” into preventing an injury from developing into chronic pain and therefore long-term disability, “you’ve lost the ballgame.” CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article
