Clinical management of a work rehabilitation program in a rural setting

Abstract

The advent of managed care and third party payers are demanding greater efficiency and cost containment among rehabilitation providers. In the field of work rehabilitation programs, success is often measured with the injured worker’s returning to their previous functional level. The efficacy of active rehabilitation has proven successful in returning injured workers back to their previous level of employment. The purposes of this paper are to discuss how a rural work rehabilitation program incorporated evidence based practices into the treatment of their clientele and the resulting 1998 and 1999 outcomes. Discharged status revealed 71% of patients returned to work with an average time of 4.9 months between date of injury and therapeutic intervention. The average number of treatment days was 20 for 1998 and 15 for 1999. Average total cost per day was $345 dollars for 1998 and $356 dollars for 1999. Emphasis on treating work related injuries of either acute or chronic nature should focus on restoring clients’ functional mobility, endurance, strength, stabilization and cardiovascular impairments.