Inside Workers' Comp Genex Services

Workers' Comp
Alternative Transitional Duty: A Win-Win for Employee, Employer and Community
April 11, 2022

Statistics show the longer injured employees are out of work, the more difficult it is for them to return. But, what happens when injured employees aren’t physically able to return to work right away? What can be done to help them stay engaged in work and their recovery, especially if there are no light duty options available in the workplace? Well today, Paul Bode, vice president, at Genex, joins us to explain a creative program designed to help injured employees engage in purposeful activity during recovery. It’s called alternative transitional duty (ATD).

When an employee sustains a significant injury which requires inpatient care and rehabilitation, going home is often the first major goal of recovery. But the comforts of home may not be so comforting if the person requires a wheelchair or other assistive devices to get around. On today’s Inside Workers’ Comp, we talk with Nicole Usher of Apricus who explains how home modifications can make an injured employee’s house home sweet home again.

In December 2020, an act was signed into law, which will change the way some reporting entities coordinate Medicare benefits. This PAID Act will go into effect before year's end, but CMS is busy preparing for the change. In today’s podcast, Deborah Robinson-Stewart, joins us to explain.

There’s a heightened awareness in our industry on how psychosocial factors impact an injured employee’s recovery. But what’s the best way to approach and address these issues? In the fourth and final installment of our mental health in comp podcast series, we ask Nikki Wilson and Tammy Bradly to share some best practices.

None of us have gone untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for frontline workers who care for the critically ill. So, in part three of our series on mental health’s impact on workers’ comp, we’re going to look at the psychosocial effects the pandemic continues to play on our society and how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become a term used more often in our industry. Joining me today are our experts, Nikki Wilson, Tammy Bradly, and Mariellen Blue.

Traditionally, the term mental health has been treated as a claims pariah in workers’ comp, as it’s been associated with delaying recovery and sending costs spiraling out of control. Yet, ignoring the reality that psychosocial factors exist in mostly all claims is perhaps the biggest cause for these problems. In part two of our mental health podcast series, we ask Tammy Bradly and Mariellen Blue if addressing mental health in the initial assessment and throughout the claim can actually have a positive effect on claims management.