HCML

HCML, one of the UK’s foremost providers of professional rehabilitation case management and employment services, today released the results of an internal review to examine its success in achieving rehabilitation goals.

The most important finding to emerge from the study is that early intervention is fundamental in providing the injured party with the best chance of returning to work. It was found that in 74% of cases referred in under a month from the time of injury return to work (RTW) goals were achieved. This success rate falls significantly the longer the time lapse between injury and referral.

Despite this conclusion, HCML is also careful to point out that RTW goals can still be achieved in cases referred over a year following injury, or indeed even after a two year time lapse, where HCML reports achieving 42% of RTW goals. These statistics provide a significantly more optimistic picture than generally extolled in industry research papers.

Helen Merfield, Chief Executive of HCML and winner of the ‘Outstanding Individual Achievement’ category at the 2008 Rehabilitation First Awards, said:

We are constantly being asked to prove the value of rehabilitation and I believe that this new research does just that. We feel that the results of our first extensive review prove in no uncertain terms that case management of the right cases clearly makes a big difference in assisting people back to health and work. I think these results could be further improved if insurers really started working with us instead of keeping us at arms length. Unless we work closely together and are given the opportunity to educate the claims handlers on the benefits and understand their issues, we will never see the full benefit of rehabilitation and case management services.

The study took into account all major cases from 2004 to August of this year. Minor cases were excluded (to prevent inflation of figures), as were Catastrophic cases, as customers had either already returned to work or the injuries were too severe for RTW goals to be realistic. In total, well over 2000 cases where RTW goals were identified at the beginning of the rehabilitation process were evaluated and analysed in drawing these conclusions.

Nicole Thompson, HCML’s Head of Clinical Services, said on completion of the white paper:

In scrutinising our overall achievements we found that on average 12% more RTW goals were achieved in the first eight months of this year when compared to the average across the previous years. These results have substantiated the value of the interventions and the training implemented by HCML this year to further the professional development of our Case Managers and increase their commitment and capability in getting injured parties back to work.

HCML intends to repeat this internal audit process annually in a continued commitment to the maintenance of best practice, and publish the results to corroborate current evidence and educate industry stakeholders further on the invaluable contribution rehabilitation makes.

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