By Harvey Warren, Author, The Optimized Patient
When I was asked if optimizing patients for surgery or injury recovery was possible in workers’ compensation, I enthusiastically embraced the idea of helping injured workers get better faster and stay better longer. What could go wrong? The savings that come from getting employees back to work, even one day sooner, have to have significant economic benefits, right?
Introducing any new idea that requires “change” in an established methodology is likely to encounter some push back. I fully expected the idea of providing patient education and engagement would need some time to be fully understood. Part of that understanding comes from realizing the injured worker is the “wildcard” in the often-complex machinery of the existing workers’ compensation model. They are wildcards because everyone in the recovery process knows what to do in their role, except for the injured worker.
Practitioners tasked with providing support services to the injured worker seem to believe that education and engagement is something that is already happening. Well, not exactly, not really. Typically, after an injury or surgery, this is the information that is given to the patient, “If you run a fever, if the injured area reddens, if you have vomiting or diarrhea, give us a call.” I can speak to this personally since this was all the direction I received after a seven-hour spinal fusion. I felt like I needed a little more support over the anticipated nine-month recovery period. My concern and research led me to write the book and detail four areas of recovery that are not considered “medical” and are most often not part of the workers’ compensation system.
The education elements, or “four pillars of recovery” – mindset, nutrition, activity and rest – are very specific components that doctors and physical therapists agree are essential to an ideal recovery time frame. Sadly, the personnel in the treatment chain are rarely trained in these areas and rarely compensated for this type of educational engagement.
What I learned in my research was that in the traumatic experience of being seriously injured, the one thing lacking was reliable, comprehensive information helping me understand the optimal things I should be doing to get better. It was clear to me something more was needed, beyond one more visit to the doctor, time with a physical therapist or another prescription.
In the fifth year of promoting patient education and engagement, my message to the industry is “Educate and Engage – Or Pay the Price.” The data is in and the value is clear. If you are responsible for the difficult task of reducing the spend on workers’ comp or helping your injured workers get back to the best life possible, calculate this – what is the low cost of educating your injured worker compared to the savings of getting your employee back to work just one day sooner?
