The Contribution of Onsite Physiotherapy to an Integrated Model for Managing Work Injuries: A Follow Up Study

Purpose As part of an integrated system to manage work injuries, some organisations utilise the skills of an onsite physiotherapist. Onsite physiotherapy can provide benefits for the workers and organisation when delivered as part of an early intervention injury prevention program (IPP) at a poultry meat processing plant. However, once established, the sustainability of this service on work injury and compensation outcomes without ongoing physiotherapy contribution is unknown. Methods Through analysis of two large secondary datasets of workplace injuries and compensation claims, outcome measures of injury rates, cost per workers' compensation claim and duration of work absence were compared over a 36-month period where onsite physiotherapy contributed to the IPP and was later removed. Results 3951 injuries and their 781 resultant compensation claims were analysed within a 36-month analysis period. A small but non-significant rise in injury rates and duration of work absence was associated with the removal of onsite physiotherapy. There was also a shift towards more compensations claims with work absence after physiotherapy was removed. However, there was a significant reduction in adjusted mean costs per claim of $847 for all injury types (p < 0.001) and $930 for musculoskeletal disorders (p < 0.001) after the removal of onsite physiotherapy. Conclusions Once an IPP was embedded within an organisation, onsite physiotherapy services were able to be discharged without significantly and negatively impacting demonstrated benefits and injury outcomes. There was also cost savings to the insurer through reduced mean claim costs and to the employer by not funding the onsite physiotherapy service.