Offering rehab at work is something every company should seriously consider. It is an important first step in establishing a formal Return-to-Work (RTW) program. And it can boost the effectiveness of your existing RTW program. Studies show that having a program in place gets people back to work sooner.

Rehab at Work is Simpler

It is an on-demand service. It turns your workplace into a temporary on-site clinic, but you don’t have to build or maintain a clinic facility. Rather than traveling to an offsite clinic, injured workers simply “report to work” for treatment. Since it’s more convenient, compliance is better.

Streamlining the rehabilitation process saves money at every step. It emphasizes your company’s wellness and safety priorities. It demonstrates concern and caring for individual employees. And it saves you money by reducing workers’ comp claims and costs.  

Rehab at Work is More Effective

Returning injured workers to their jobs and avoiding re-injury are the ultimate goals of any workers’ comp program. The longer they’re out, the more it costs your company financially. And the more it costs your injured worker in worry and frustration.

But total number of days off work isn’t the only problem. As your company’s workers’ comp pro, you also have to contend with:

• Rising treatment and premium costs
• Repeat injuries
• Unpredictable productivity and/or poor quality work caused by absent workers
• Lack of transparency in the recovery process that keeps you in the dark

Offering on-site physical therapy helps you address all these issues. It has been shown to:

• Produce faster results (9.5 treatments vs a national average of 17.1 treatments)
• Boost return-to-work rates (95% (compared to a national average of 70%)
• Reduce repeat injuries to 3% (compared to a national average of 18%)

That’s because rehab at work is individually-tailored for each worker and their specific job. Results are not only accelerated, you get a valuable bonus. What you really want is to prevent injuries in the first place. During their treatment sessions, injured workers also learn how to avoid re-injury in the future.

Rehab at Work Is a Smarter Approach

What company doesn’t want to reduce repeat injuries, productivity losses and overall claims costs? On-site physical therapy eliminates expensive travel time and mileage. It delivers results faster, with fewer treatments and shorter out-of-work times. Injured workers get better, faster. And they are able to perform their job better in the future. They can work safer and be more productive.

So the real question isn’t should your company offer rehab at work. It’s why are you waiting to make the switch to on-site rehab? In our next blog article, we’ll take a closer look at the many benefits of rehab at work.