Sheakley Updates

BWC’s Vocational Rehab Program Overview

Chelsea Bikner
Vocational Rehab Program
Reading time 4 Mins
Published on Dec 17
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When an employee is injured on the job, it can be a real gut punch for you and your company. Not only are you worried about the health and safety of your injured worker and focused on ensuring that the incident leading to their injury doesn’t recur, but you also have to worry about lost production and the possibility of a costly workers’ compensation claim. There are steps that you can take to help your injured employee return to work faster and safer, while also potentially reducing your exposure to a claim that drags on. The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Vocational Rehabilitation program offers injured workers the ability to safely return to work and retain employment, with the primary goal to return the employee to their original position with their original employer. Read on to learn more about the BWC’s Vocational Rehab program and how your Managed Care Organization (MCO) can help you get valued employees back to work safely.

The basics

Injured workers identified for participation in the Vocational Rehab program are provided an individualized program to assist them with returning to work safely. Most of the workers who participate in Vocational Rehab would be unlikely to return to work or be able to stay at work safely without the assistance provided by Vocational Rehab.

The return-to-work (RTW) hierarchy focuses the goals of Vocational Rehab on the following:

  • Same job, same employer: returning the employee to their original job with the employer of record at the time of injury.
  • Different job, same employer: encouraging the employer of record to modify the original job or provide a different position for the employee within the company.
  • Same job, different employer: assisting the injured worker with finding employment in the same or similar role with a different employer.
  • Different job, different employer: assisting the injured worker with finding a new job role in a new company.

Referring an employee

Vocational Rehab is a completely voluntary program for injured workers, but your participation as an employer is mandatory. Anyone involved in the workers’ compensation process can refer an employee to rehabilitation, including the MCO, employer, BWC, physician, attorney, or even the injured worker themselves. Eligibility for Vocational Rehab is determined by the BWC upon referral. If the injured worker or any other party is dissatisfied with the ruling, they may appeal the decision.

The MCO’s role

After discussion with you and your injured worker, your MCO identifies eligible claims that could benefit from the Vocational Rehab program to assist with RTW and makes a referral to the BWC. Your MCO will then assess and determine the Vocational Rehab services needed by the employee to facilitate a safe RTW and assigns a Vocational Rehab Case Manager to oversee the injured worker’s progress. In accordance with BWC policies, your MCO also authorizes payment for all services agreed to in the comprehensive RTW plan developed for your employee.

The BWC’s role

The BWC determines the eligibility of individual injured worker’s for services, determines the appropriateness of the plan developed by the MCO, and authorizes compensation living maintenance. Additionally, to ensure quality the BWC provides program evaluation and case facilitation, as well as compliance audits of the MCO and providers.

Putting the plan into action

After the MCO assigns a Vocational Rehab case manager, the manager meets with you, your injured worker, and the physician to identify any barriers preventing your employee from coming back to work and lays out a comprehensive RTW plan. To determine a baseline for the worker’s current abilities, the case manager will often develop an assessment plan for the injured worker that includes vocational evaluation, functional capacity evaluation, and situational work assessment, among others.

Once the injured worker, the case manager, the MCO, and BWC sign off on the comprehensive plan, the MCO begins implementing the program. Among others, the services offered as part of Vocational Rehab may include job analysis, job modifications, transitional work, on-site physical therapy, work trials, gradual RTW plans, occupational rehabilitation, and work conditioning. Your injured worker’s plan may also include career counseling, work adjustment, job seeking skills training, and situational work assessment.

Helping you and your injured workers

When an employee is injured on the job, it is a very scary time for you as the business owner, for your employee, and their family. Vocational Rehab allows your injured worker and your business to focus on the employee’s successful recovery from injury and return to work. MCO partners, like Sheakley UniComp, have the experience and expertise needed to assist in the rehabilitation and return-to-work of these injured workers every day.

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