Injury Management

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF DALLAS & INJURY MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION, INC BRINGS EARLY INTEVENTION TO THE WORK PLACE

Injury Management Organization Inc. (IMO) is a Health Care Management Company that works directly with employers’ in the prevention and management of occupational and non-occupational injuries. IMO began its working relationship with Goodwill Industries of Dallas over two years ago and this healthy partnership brings a great asset to the human relations benefit for the employees’ at the workplace. Due to this human benefit asset and the quality expertise of IMOs health care professionals and the team work at Goodwill, many benefits and savings have proven to be effective and healthy for the Goodwill employee of Dallas.

IMO shows up daily at the Goodwill workplace, providing an “Early Intervention” approach to toward the prevention, wellness and management of an injured employee. The IMO and Goodwill Team have been successful in the evaluation and management of injuries related to category, contributing factors, and injury by department in order to assess “priority injury management intervention”. The first quarter statistics indicated a need to separate and quantify injuries versus visits. It was discovered that of 156 total clinic contacts (injuries, visits, and other incidents) only 26 were reportable which shows a significant savings of unnecessary medical visits externally with instead utilizing the IMO nurse on site for effective intervention at the onset. To better track contacts in the clinic as well as analyze injuries, IMO standardized recognizable injury types and contributing factors. As a result, the second quarter analysis covering February, March, and April of 2006 only manifested 5% unidentifiable contacts compared to 73% of unidentifiable contacts that were contributed toward loss time from work and increase medical expense exposure.

Due to the on-site presence of IMO and its intervention of injury prevention, safety and wellness, the total contact visits to external clinics were reduced from 203 to 177 in just one quarter. The lack of following appropriate body mechanics, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and safety awareness has made a significant impact on the reduction of injuries and its severity thereby decreasing cost.

What does all this mean for Goodwill Industries of Dallas?

Ø A safe and healthy work environment for the employees.
Ø A significant impact of cost savings as related to loss time and decrease of severity of injuries with increase productivity.
Ø A healthy relationship between the employee, employer, treating provider and the IMO on site nurse with the Goodwill Human Resources and Risk Management Team.
Ø Good will for the employee to ensure that he/she is taken care of at the workplace before and/or after an injury.

Case in Point.. What is IMO’s role…

To illustrate an example of the depth of intervention IMO provides when an injury occurs, review the case of a Goodwill employee at one of the suburban Goodwill stores. This employee was monitoring a shipment of items being unloaded at her store. While she stood at the end of the semi tractor-trailer, a carload of books started to roll toward her down the slight incline of the trailer. Instinctively she quickly put her hands out to stop the cart. Although she stopped the cart, her left wrist snapped backwards under the weight of the cart.

The employee thought it was just a mild strain and after reporting it to her supervisor, continued to work the rest of her shift. When she arrived at work the next morning, her wrist was swollen and painful. An IMO Medical Case Manager was dispatched to the store, discussed the incident and accompanied the employee to the nearest occupational health clinic for an x-ray. Her wrist did appear to have a mild fracture so she was taken to an orthopedic specialist who splinted the wrist that afternoon.

The next morning, the employee returned to a “Transitional Duty Program”. She had lost minimal time from work and was much more comfortable. Over the course of the next few weeks, her wrist was splinted with continued oversight and management on site by the treating physician and the IMO Medical Case Manager. Finally, the employee entered rehab and is now completing a rehab series with a hand therapist. IMO was able to move the employee along through the recovery process with minimal disruption to the store and to the employee’s routine activities of daily living.

IMO and the Goodwill Management Team have worked effectively toward a successful partnership in preventing and managing injuries at the Goodwill Industries of Dallas. It is vital to recognize the success of this has contributed toward a goal of delivering an effective “Early Intervention” model coupled with the right expertise and the right employer that ultimately wants to provide the best and safest care for its employee’s.

You can learn more about IMO at http://www.injurymanagement.com/ or Dawn Bergerson, Director of Industry Care Services at dbergerson@injurymanagement.com.

Click here for a printable PDF of theGoodwill success story.

By nature, manufacturing companies are often at high risk of injury. For a company that is involved in all areas of manufacturing for residential construction, Atrium Companies has a myriad of job descriptions and employees with specialized job responsibilities. So when one employee is injured, the single injury can have a ripple effect on the productivity of the plant.

Consequently, on-the-job injury is taken seriously at Atrium. "Each one of our manufacturing operations is like a small village," explains Steve Rosenthal, corporate counsel to Atrium Companies Inc., the umbrella to several manufacturing companies producing aluminum, wood and vinyl products for residential construction. "Everyone has a role. Relationships are tight. Boundaries are understood. There's a certain rhythm to every shift. When an injury occurs, it's not only disruptive in the sense that it puts a halt to that rhythm, but it also leaves the village short a vital member."

For that reason, Atrium tries hard to get the injured employee back in the village as quickly as possible. To do that safely and properly, however, requires a coordinated approach to treatment and rehabilitation. "That's where IMO comes in," says Rosenthal. "The more problematic the case, the more we count on IMO.

"No other organization provides service like IMO. They immediately become familiar with the patient and the treatment. Whether it's recommending modifications in the work place, incorporating new tools, or training employees to adopt safer work habits, IMO makes the return to work process a positive experience."

Rosenthal recognizes that in some cases, an employee's trust and confidence in his or her employer may be fragile. "One injury can affect how the employee will view the company," says Rosenthal. "With IMO working on behalf of the injured employee, trust and confidence in the company isn't lost; it's reinforced. That's a return on investment that you may not see directly in the numbers, but it's a significant human resource benefit that we don't overlook."

Click here for a printable PDF of the Atrium success story.