As a workers’ compensation professional, your goal is to get injured workers back on the job as soon as possible. But the last thing you want is to have workers return too soon. That’s a recipe for poor job performance and re-injury. And those costs can quickly erase any early RTW savings. Accelerated physical therapy is a smarter, more effective approach to treating injured workers. 

Accelerated physical therapy is a game-changer.

It’s an entirely different model. It focuses on treating injured workers at their jobsite rather than in a traditional off-site clinic. Accelerated physical therapy uses proven clinical methods and tools. But it uses them in a new way, with better results.

In a traditional physical therapy clinic, it can be difficult for injured workers to get undivided, individual attention. Therapists often have to juggle several patients during each session. They have to be generalists, because they see all types of patients from skiing accidents to stroke victims as well as people injured on the job.

Traditional clinic-based therapy can also present barriers to compliance. It can be difficult to schedule timely appointments. Travel to and from appointments can be a physical or emotional hardship on injured workers. Waiting room delays drag out time spent at appointments.

The result? It takes longer for your injured worker to recover and get back to work. The longer someone is away from their job, the greater the strain on their co-workers and overall company productivity. Longer out-of-work times drive up claims costs. And your worker himself may become depressed, wondering if he’ll ever be able to work again.

On-site physical therapy is designed to speed up recovery.

PhysNet therapists specialize in treating injured workers. Each injured worker receives 100% one-on-one attention from their therapist for their entire session. They work as a team, fully invested in a single goal – accelerated recovery.

Treatment is tailored to match each person’s job and the tasks they need to perform. That makes therapy more relevant. And as your injured worker is recovering, they are also learning how to use their body properly in the future. With that knowledge they can work safer and avoid re-injury.

Plan of care compliance improves because it’s easier. The therapist schedules sessions directly with the injured worker. Your employee only has to “go to work” for treatment. There is no expense or hassle associated with traveling to a clinic for therapy sessions.

It’s easy to monitor each injured worker’s progress, thanks to real-time communication. You get both informal updates and formal reporting. Everyone who has a stake in resolving the workers’ comp claim is up to date. And your employee stays engaged with the company and his co-workers.

Accelerated physical therapy provides better results.

Using PhysNet’s accelerated approach, companies are:

• Reducing their average number of treatments, to 9.5 vs a national average of 17.1
• Boosting their return-to-work rates, to 95% vs a national average of just 70%
• Shrinking their re-injury rates, to 3% compared to a national average of 18%

What would it be worth to your company to cut just one day off your annual days-out-of-work average? What would it be worth to your employees to know your workers’ comp program is solidly behind their speedy recovery, should they be injured? Accelerated physical therapy isn’t just faster, it’s better. You save money and can look forward to fewer repeat claims. Injured workers can return to work sooner and better equipped to work safer in the future.