Coordinating rehabilitation efforts and the disability evaluating process

Treating industrial injuries/dysfunctions present greater challenges for the treating physician and rehabilitation team. The treatment and documentation needs of injured workers require a coordinated effort of the entire rehabilitation team in order to bring the disability evaluating process to an efficient and final conclusion. This manuscript presents the authors' personal clinical approaches to industrial injuries, focusing on the rehabilitation process: what to do, when to do it, and when to stop and proceed along a different plan. This paper will also address issues of completing the disability evaluating process while meeting the needs of the patient, employer, case manager, and payor source. The importance of the multi-disciplinary rehabilitation team and communication with the employer through the case manager, patient and family will be described. The use of Functional Capacity Evaluation, Job Analysis and other return to work and disability assessment modalities will be discussed as related to coordination with other rehabilitation efforts.