One question we often get here at OccuPro is advice on how to build and market a clinics work comp services. The overall goal of any clinical practice is driving the worker compensation program and increasing your workers compensation referrals. In most states, workers' compensation is the highest reimbursing insurance, so if you can build a robust work comp program, with good return-to-work (RTW) outcomes, you will see the financial benefits of increased revenues and increased referrals.
The most successful work comp rehab practices have gained that success and built their market share in work comp by performing functionally based notes (Functional Progress Notes) in the outpatient phase of PT/OT treatment. Performing Functional Progress Notes and Functional Discharge Summaries on all your work comp patients who are working restricted duty, or, are not working due to their injury, will differentiate you from the clinic down the street. In this highly competitive market, this differentiation will set you apart from your competitors and ultimately increase your outpatient work comp referrals, work conditioning referrals, and functional capacity evaluation referrals.
What is the best way for you as a rehab provider to build and market your work comp services? Your marketing decisions should be focused upon your referral sources needs and wants. So, whether your referral source is a physician, case manager, work comp network, or insurance carrier, they all want that work comp patient to return to full duty work as quickly as possible.
When you speak with physicians, case managers, and claims adjusters focus your conversation on the Functional Progress Notes, and Functional Discharge Summaries during outpatient therapy. Case managers and adjusters love the RTW progress line graph in the report, because it gives them an objective measure on the patient's RTW progress, versus a bunch of musculoskeletal information. This documentation makes their decisions easier in regard to authorization for additional services, whether it be more skilled therapy, a work conditioning program, or the need to do a FCE.
These functional based notes will help you better communicate, and market your work comp program, to physicians, work comp networks, and insurance carriers. The client's return-to-work status in these reports are so important that when you sell this feature to your referrals though phone calls, emails, and on-site physician visits you will see more work comp referrals being sent to your clinics.
Some other tips to market your work comp program:
- Start with the "low hanging fruit". So that means start with the existing work comp patients in your clinic. Do functional progress notes and functional discharge summaries on your existing patients. For those client's that are not at 100% of their job demands and are still making functional gains in treatment recommend a work conditioning program. For those patient's that are at a plateau in therapy, and still not at 100% of job demands, recommend a functional capacity evaluation. It's important that you make these recommendations to help the physician better understand what the most appropriate next step is.
- Analyze your market and determine if it is beneficial to get in network with one or many of the workers' compensation networks. In many areas of the United States, a majority of the work comp referrals are network driven. Nationwide, OccuPro is the preferred RTW and FCE testing methodology and documentation system with the major work comp networks. As an OccuPro customer, we reach out on your behalf to inform the networks your facility is in the OccuPro Service Network.
- Utilize the marketing collaterals that are part of your software. These are one-page marketing collaterals with your clinics branding, that you can disseminate to physician offices or other referrals sources.
- Use social media, to market your work comp program and outcomes. The Return-to-Work Software calculates your patient's RTW outcome data, so it is important that you not only track your outcomes, strive for outcomes 80%-95% RTW, and SELL it! Get it out to your referral sources that your program is above and beyond better in regard to outcomes, compared to your competitors.
- Finally, for those referrals that are coming directly from physicians and insurance carriers, communication, communication, communication! Communicate with the adjuster or the case manager, via phone or email after every initial evaluation and progress report to update and highlight areas in your documentation that substantiate your recommendations. This will help drive increased referrals of work conditioning and FCEs.
For any additional questions regarding marketing your work comp program using the OccuPro Software, please reach out by calling us at 866.470.4440 or by email at info@occupro.net! We will be happy to assist you in making your program successful and more profitable.