Start a Disability Management Program
A comprehensive disability management program saves money for employers and provides better access to health care for employees. It also helps employees return to work quickly and develops accommodations for lingering health problems when possible. Use the steps below to create a disability management program for your company and improve your bottom line.
Instructions
1. Evaluate your company's history of sick days used and short-term and long-term disability benefits paid. Look at the reasons for the disabilities as well as the cost to the company and the intangible costs to the employees. This can help you tailor your plan to your company's needs.
2. Combine disability benefits like salary continuation, short-term disability and long-term disability benefits paid, along with health care claims paid, into one program. This reduces the disability manager's workload and streamlines the paperwork for an employee whose illness may become a disability. The employee doesn't have to reapply if her status changes, and the case manager can keep each employee's information in one file instead of two or three.
3. Hire a nurse or other medical professional to manage the disability claims or cases. The best case manager has medical and disability expertise and a knowledge of disability laws like the Americans with Disability Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. A person with these skills can modify the disability leave and benefits to the individual employee and ensure the employer complies with applicable laws.
4. Realize that implementing a disability management program may be a challenge. Some employees consider sick days as an entitlement and may save them up and use them as extra vacation. Give them incentives to reduce the sick days they use. Establish guidelines to make employees responsible for participating fully in their healthcare.
5. Emphasize returning to work as the primary goal of the disability management program. Partner with your insurer to reduce disability costs and help employees focus on their abilities instead of their disabilities. Develop wellness programs and ergonomic changes that can reduce sickness and injury. Find alternate positions for those employees who can't keep doing their old jobs.
6. Remember that disability management is less about controlling costs and about valuing each employee's abilities and quality of life. If your employees know that they are a vital part of the company, they are more likely to welcome a new disability management program.
Tags: management program, disability benefits, disability management, disability management, disability management program