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Work
Loss Data Institute __________________________________ San Diego, CA Corpus Christi, TX |
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May 31, 2006 New Study Released in ACOEM’s Journal
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Quantifies Success of Case Management Using ODG The May 2006 issue of the Journal of Occupational
and Environmental Medicine reports that implementation of a disability
management program at Shell Oil Company using the Medgate software along
with Official Disability Guidelines (ODG) resulted in a significant
reduction in total absence. According
to the study, businesses that participated in the program experienced more
than a 10% reduction in total absence days per employee and a 28%
reduction in extended absences compared with the previous year. Business
units not using the program had an 8% increase in absences.
In addition, this program resulted in a more than four to one
return on investment based on direct expenditures and cost savings in
terms of reduced absence days. The study was conducted at Shell Oil Company in
Houston, Texas, by the Shell Health Services Department. Authors of the study were Christopher M. Skisak, PhD, Faiyaz
Bhojani, MD, and Shan P. Tsai, PhD. According
to the authors, the cost of unscheduled absences in the United States is
estimated to be $1,323 per employee, and companies must find ways to
reduce this amount to be competitive.
The Shell disability management program was instituted at nine
refineries employing a total of 6,200 employees, using nine occupational
health nurses, one at each refinery, plus two case managers at
headquarters. Shell
adopted a commercially available case management tool, Medgate, and data
from Official Disability Guidelines was used for the return-to-work
portion of case management. According
to the study, the case managers used Official Disability Guidelines to
determine an appropriate management strategy and possible return-to-work
date. The treating physician was contacted if the expected days
from ODG and the physician’s recommendation differed by more than 20%. The business units implementing the disability
management program experienced a 10.4% decrease in total absence, but the
impact of case management was even more striking for extended absences.
Lost time from absences of four days or more declined by 28%.
Direct annual cost savings from use of the program were $2.3
million, and this value did not include indirect costs.
In addition, follow-up surveys of employees showed a high level of
employee satisfaction with the program.
Next steps for the program include benchmarking absences using ODG,
and making information available to employees to assist them in managing
their own absences. A complete copy of the study is available online from
the publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins at www.joem.org.
Go to Current Issue, page 497, “Impact of a Disability Management
Program on Employee Productivity in a Petrochemical Company.” About the Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine: About Medgate: About Official Disability Guidelines: |
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