The physician's role in workers' compensation

Issue title: Feature Column: Alternative Medicine

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Mayer, R. Samuel^{; *}

Affiliations: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rush Medical Center, 1653 West Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60612 USA

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Tel.: + 1 312 9423675; fax: + 1 312 9424234.

Abstract: This article reviews the medical literature and describes the author's personal experience with the physician's role in workers' compensation. Work disability costs approach $150 billion in the United States. Legal aspects of workers' compensation and the Americans with Disabilities Act are reviewed. The physician specializing in industrial medicine and occupational rehabilitation can be involved in any or all of several components of care: prevention, new employee screens, urgent care, rehabilitation of chronically disabled employees and determination of work-relatedness and disability. Each of these components is discussed in detail.

Keywords: Workers' compensation, Americans with Disabilities Act, Cumulative trauma disorder, Low back pain

DOI: 10.3233/BMR-1998-10204

Journal: Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 81-88, 1998