Choosing an occupational health provider is a lot like shopping for shoes: You can go almost anywhere and find something that will work, but finding the right fit takes some time and patience. Once you\u2019ve done your preliminary research and determined what your organization needs out of an occupational healthcare program, you need to start interviewing those providers who have made it to your short list.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help you further narrow down your options in the hopes of arriving on that provider that will serve you and your employees well, here are 10 crucial questions to ask before choosing an occupational health provider.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost every occupational health provider offers basic injury care for those times when your employees are injured on the job. And while that may serve most of your needs, you want a provider that has a broad skillset and is able to respond to shifts in your needs.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best occupational health providers have multiple specialized capabilities and are flexible in the services they provide your organization. If you\u2019re a manufacturing plant that gets a big contract requiring your team to temporarily add an overnight shift, you need an occupational health provider that can scale your clinic services to match the expanded hours, or that offers a 24\/7 injury triage line to help those workers on the late shift.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An occupational healthcare provider that\u2019s right for your needs can also be found in those little value-added services that you may not realize come with your partnership. Things such as onsite drug test sample collection, respirator fit testing and blood pressure checks can seem small in the scope of a full-scale occupational health partnership, but they can have a big impact for you and your workers.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just like regular healthcare isn\u2019t one size fits all, occupational healthcare shouldn\u2019t be, either. The occupational health needs of a construction worker will be different from someone who works in a food processing plant.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You need a provider that not only has the skills and experience necessary to deal with conditions unique to your industry \u2014 such as welding injuries that come from manufacturing facilities or electrocution common in energy generation and distribution \u2014 but one that is prepared to tailor their services to meet those needs.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as different industries have different occupational healthcare requirements, different worker populations have different needs. One organization may require more onsite drug testing or overdose response services, while another may need smoking cessation services. Finding an occupational health provider that can help you identify and respond to these needs is going to give your workers the best possible care.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not every provider that says they offer occupational healthcare focuses solely on that service. Some organizations, seeking to diversify, have branched out into the occupational health space without the years of experience to back up their offerings.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To find the best level of care for your workers, it\u2019s important to find an occupational health provider whose main focus is providing time-of-need care to ill and injured workers. Even better, look for a provider that has experience in an occupational healthcare setting in your specific industry.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more experience a provider has, the more prepared their teams will be to respond to a variety of situations. This will help your workers receive the best care, even in unusual instances.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Providing exceptional care to your workers goes beyond just drawing on past education and experience. Your occupational health provider must stay on top of the latest shifts in the healthcare industry in general, and in occupational healthcare. Additionally, keeping updated on changes to laws and regulations \u2014 including workers\u2019 compensation laws and more \u2014 is key to ensuring that your organization stays compliant and avoids fines and penalties.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A provider whose teams are backed by certified, experienced occupational medicine practitioners and compliance experts is going to be well-suited to giving your workers the care they need and providing you with a compliant program.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having licensed, experienced medical professionals to assist your workers with their on-the-job illnesses and injuries is the absolute minimum you should expect out of your occupational health provider. However, these individuals may not be skilled or experienced in the unique health and safety challenges your workers face.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The right occupational health provider for your needs employs medical professionals with deep occupational health knowledge, making them ready to respond to various situations. If your occupational healthcare team includes individuals with experience specific to identifying and treating injuries or illnesses common to your industry, even better. This means your care team will be poised to help your workers in most situations, responding calmly to provide the best care possible.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caring for your workers when they\u2019re ill or injured is the basis of your occupational health program. But preventing accidents and intervening at the first sign of an injury is key to avoiding injuries altogether, dramatically reducing your claims numbers and helping you control costs.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best occupational health providers actively work to prevent accidents and injuries, offering safety programs, proactive injury prevention and other strategies to keep your workers safe and healthy. A partner that regularly evaluates how your team works, looking for any potential hazards or conditions that may contribute to injuries, then works to correct those issues, is going to pay off in the long run by decreasing your rates of work-related injuries.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the goal of an occupational health program is to give your workers the quickest care possible when they\u2019re ill or injured, it isn\u2019t always possible for your care team to manage every incident on their own. There will still be situations where a worker needs outside care, and how your care team handles these situations can make a big difference in health outcomes for your workers and costs for your business.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your care team sends workers offsite for every illness or injury, many won\u2019t receive the appropriate level of care for their needs. You need an occupational health partner that carefully identifies the situations where a worker needs offsite care and helps to navigate your employees to the right occupational health-focused facility to meet their needs. For those workers whose condition can be managed with first aid, your occupational health team either directly provides the treatment to the worker, or they can capably communicate what needs to be done over the phone.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The better equipped your occupational health provider is to offer care without additional interventions, the more satisfied your employees will be with the care, the faster they will return to work and the more controlled your overall costs will be.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technology is a crucial part of the healthcare process, used for everything from storing patient information to assisting with providing direct patient care. But simply having technology for technology\u2019s sake isn\u2019t an efficient use of anyone\u2019s time and money.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, your occupational health team should utilize technology to streamline and enhance the care they provide. Care algorithms that guide a medical professional through the process of evaluating and triaging a worker\u2019s injuries, for example, can draw on years of evidence and medical knowledge to arrive at a fairly accurate diagnosis and care plan.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Providing care to your ill and injured workers is great, but you won\u2019t be able to tell if you\u2019re managing costs and reducing injury rates, improving return-to-work rates and decreasing claims and recordables without tracking the right data. And if you can\u2019t connect this data to your business\u2019 key performance indicators, it will be difficult to make a long-term case for maintaining your occupational health program.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The right occupational health provider for your needs will work with you to identify the occupational health-related KPIs that matter to your organization, and help you connect those KPIs with data they collect. Your provider also should be willing to adjust their data collection as your KPIs change, helping you ensure your occupational health program is not only helping your workers, but also helping your business succeed.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having an occupational healthcare program may make your workers nervous. They may worry that their personal medical information won\u2019t be kept secure, or that their visit to your care team will become lunchroom gossip.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To prevent this, you must find a provider that adheres to the strictest rules and regulations for data and medical records privacy. At minimum, they should have systems in place to ensure compliance with any federal, provincial or local regulations your business may fall under. These systems should extend into reporting any incidents when managing workers\u2019 compensation claims.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Medcor<\/a>, we pride ourselves on providing the most exceptional occupational healthcare services possible to all our clients, regardless of their unique needs. From onsite clinics and mobile treatment centers<\/a> to 24\/7 injury and illness triage<\/a>, our teams can provide your workers with the best care available while helping you reduce claims and manage costs. Speak with an advocate today.<\/a>\u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Choosing an occupational health provider is a lot like shopping for shoes: You can go almost anywhere and find something that will work, but finding …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"showPromoBanner":true,"promoBannerHeadline":"","promoBannerCtaText":"","promoBannerCtaLink":[],"promoBannerTheme":"","promoBannerImage":0,"updatedDate":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1117],"tags":[1209,1210,1211],"silo":[1138],"class_list":["post-21694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-occupational-health-2","tag-wellbeing-2","tag-wellness-2"],"yoast_head":"\n