Workplace Health Services Blog

Do the primary care and occupational therapy programs offered through onsite health clinics really work? If you ask a certain Indiana manufacturer’s safety staff, they will tell you that these programs not only work, they “return to work.”

Workplace Health Services has helped this manufacturer significantly lower its OSHA “Return To Work” scores at its Indiana facility. In fact, the reduction in the number of days lost due to injury has been so dramatic that the company plans to use the site’s results as the benchmark for its other plants.

How did the Indiana site reduce employee lost days so drastically? By aggressively managing its return to work process.

The company’s onsite health clinic is staffed with a full-time primary care physician, physical therapist, X-ray technician, two registered nurses, and a part-time registered nurse case manager. Therefore, its employees not only receive complete primary care, they have access to ongoing preventative care.

The worker’s overall health is managed through screenings, risk assessments and other wellness programs. They’re encouraged to focus on their health, and provided with the tools and information they need to improve it.

Plus, the employee’s “occupational health” is maintained through enhanced ergonomics and other measures designed to prevent repetitive stress injuries. At the first sign of back or shoulder pain, workers can not only seek onsite medical assistance, but determine any workplace changes necessary to avoid a chronic condition.

And, when an injury does occur, the onsite health clinic staff really goes to work. They administer any needed emergency treatment, and ensure the employee receives the specialty care required (while providing the specialist with the patient’s complete medical file which avoids costly duplicate testing).

But, the staff goes much further. The registered nurse case manager accompanies the employee on all medical appointments to determine the steps necessary to prevent further injury once the employee returns to work. By ensuring that the specialists understand the comprehensiveness of the onsite occupational health program, workers are cleared to resume their duties more quickly.

Thus, the OSHA return to work scores go down while employee productivity goes up.

So does their onsite health clinic’s Return On Investment.

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