The purpose of Springfield Clinic's Occupational Medicine/Worker's Compensation Injury Management Service is to provide employees injured at the workplace with optimum and appropriate health care delivered by a coordinated team of health care providers skilled at and credentialed in Occupational Medicine services. These providers will utilize current, conservative protocols of treatment and communication which are sensitive to clinical and administrative cost containment and ensure appropriate return to work and productivity initiatives. The employer, together with their representative(s), will work with the Clinic to develop appropriate, quantifiable expectations and performance measures including access standards, expected results of care, evaluation of outcomes and claimant satisfaction. The program will depend on a "channeling" process whereby injured employees are initially assessed, directed to proximate, qualified, network providers are managed according to predetermined protocols with frequent communication to the affected employer representative. The program is designed to encourage maximum clinical outcomes which result in overall cost savings and productivity to the sponsoring employer.

BENCHMARKS FOR SUCCESS

Springfield Clinic's Occupational Medicine and Employer Relationship will be successful if:

1. Employees injured in the workplace are provided prompt access to a multidisciplinary team of qualified and credentialed health care providers.
2. Injured employees are treated according to conservative, predetermined protocols of treatment that are sensitive to cost containment and return to work initiatives.
3. Through initial discussions of appropriate, quantifiable expectations, the results or outcomes of care can be evaluated, considering claimant satisfaction.
4. Affiliated employers are able to communicate openly with responsible clinical and non-clinical representatives of Springfield Clinic and that the internal referral process assures coordinated patient management.