The Newest Weapon in the Battle Against CA Work Comp Costs: PT On-Demand

CA-work-comp-costsAs modern consumers, if we want to watch a particular TV show, we can pull it up on Netflix whenever we want. If we want to buy household goods at two o’clock in the morning, we can sign on to Amazon.com and have the items delivered to our front door in a few days. When we want to go downtown, we can hail a cab or call Uber without owning a car.

We live in an on-demand society, and it’s even affected the way we do business, with the rise of freelancers and the gig economy.

But how can this on-demand concept help you battle rising CA work comp costs?

Physical therapy can be one of the biggest costs in a workers’ comp claim. On top of the treatment, there are the expenses for travel and the employee’s time away from work. That’s why more and more employers are putting the on-demand concept to work with onsite physical therapy for their injured workers.

Therapy that’s better connected to the job and the worksite
Onsite PT, or therapy on demand, involves a physical therapist coming directly to the worksite and working with an injured worker, or even going to the injured worker’s home. It’s easy to see why this concept is gaining traction with these kinds of benefits:

  • More focused treatment. In a clinic, a physical therapist might work with one patient for 10 minutes at a time and be juggling several patients at once, all with different types of injuries. With onsite PT, the therapist can devote 100 percent of his or her attention to the injured employee.
  • More consistent treatment. On-site PT is more convenient for injured workers, so they’re more likely to be compliant, and that means more consistent treatment and faster healing.
  • Quicker return to work. A crucial difference between clinic-based and onsite PT is the focus on successfully returning the employee to work. With more focused and consistent treatment, injured workers are able to make a quicker and more successful transition back to their regular job duties. That can be huge, since the length of time an employee is off work is the top cost driver in any workers’ comp claim.
  • Cost savings. While the physical therapist may charge slightly more for onsite services, the cost savings on the other side of the equation make any added cost worthwhile. The fact that employees can stay at work for treatment eliminates travel and time loss costs. Some companies have reported savings of as much as 30 percent by using onsite PT services. According to Onsite Physio, a mobile physical therapy provider operating in 33 states, their services have helped clients reduce the number of PT treatments from a national average of 16.7 to 9.5; reduce re-injury rates from a national average of 18 percent to 3 percent; and improve return-to-work outcomes from the national average of 70 percent to 95 percent. And in many cases, onsite PT services are paid for by the company’s workers’ compensation carrier and the employees’ medical insurance, so there’s no additional cost to the company to implement it.
  • Fewer repeat injuries. More focused and consistent PT means a higher quality outcome for the injured worker, and that can go a long way toward preventing future injuries to the same body part.
  • Ease of implementation. Basically, all you need to offer onsite PT for your injured workers is a space large enough to fit a massage table or other equipment the physical therapist might bring.

Is onsite PT right for your business?
Onsite PT is just one innovation that can help you keep your workers’ compensation costs down. It may not be the right solution in every situation, but it’s hard to argue with convenience, lower costs, better results, and fewer repeat injuries.

Need more tips on keeping your workers’ compensation costs under control? Call the California workers’ compensation professionals at Republic Capital Claims Administrators today.