Medical Director Discusses 10 Ways to Leverage EH&S Collaboration at AIHce
Peter Greany of Work Care, Inc. gave his top ten list of ways to leverage collaboration with occupational health professionals.
SALT LAKE CITY -- During a stint of afternoon sessions at AIHce day 1, Peter Greany, President and Medical Director of Work Care, Inc., gave tips on evaluating doctors in order to see if they are capable of handling workers' comp patients.
A Letterman-style top ten list showcased Greany's experience in working with medical professionals. The goals of his discussion was to enhance employee health and safety (EH&S) collaboration with occupational physicians as well as effectively assess and access medical needs.
He started the conversation by highlighting some key figures when it comes to worker health. For example, a study he cited tracked injured workers from 2002-04 and found that 85% of workers injured were considered to be either overweight or obese.
Greany also noted that companies which invest in EH&S program integrations financially outperform those that don't.
After his initial remarks, Greany went through his top ten, which goes as follows:
1. Employers need more direction identifying and working with qualified occupational health providers.
2. Define the role of occupational medicine physicians as medical advisers and business consultants.
3. Establish a dashboard of your integrated metrics to demonstrate provider performance.
4. Enlist occupational health experts to assist you with legal and regulatory compliance.
5. Use your expertise to standardize and promote the practice of evidence-based medicine.
6. Use your experts to improve your knowledge of human anatomy and medical terms to support informed discussions with treating problems.
7. During a workplace walkthrough seek input on medical surveillance from an occupational medical physician.
8. Obtain occupational health guidance on clinical assessment and documentation.
9. Seek immediate consultation to better manage injuries and illness at initial onset.
10. Create an environment where innovation can succeed.
Each of these tips came with interesting anecdotes and supplemental notes. For example, when it comes to dealing with legal and regulatory compliance (#4), it is important to consider physicians using medical marijuana as a solution and whether that is in line with a company's values.
Also, in using an expert to improve your knowledge of human anatomy (#6), take something like back pain for instance; it is the most common workplace injury and yet is also common for all people. Because of this, it can be expected that a worker will inevitably suffer back pain. How a physician handles it however, will determine their effectiveness.