Midwest Orthopedics at Rush (MOR) physicians will be contributing to an upcoming event focused on getting employees back to work. Participating will be occupational health specialist, Richard Rodarte, M.D., Brian Cole, M.D., and other MOR physicians and guest speakers. The event, “Getting Employees Back to Work: A Best Practice Approach for Employers, ” will take place on Thursday, May 5, 2016. The event will be held from 7 a.m. – 4 p.m., at the Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus, 2815 Jorie Boulevard, Oak Brook, Illinois. Following the presentations, attendees are invited to a cocktail reception at the Lodge.
Rush Physicians Presenting at Occupational Health Event
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As indicated in the April 1, 2016 news release, “The conference will address workers’ compensation topics as well as legislative updates from Springfield. The topics and presenters include: Alternatives to Surgery in Managing Occupational Injuries (Dr. Brian Cole – MOR); Strategies for Diffusing Unruly Injured Employees From Both a Medical and Employer Standpoint (Dr. Richard Rodarte – MOR); Roadmap for Prosecuting and Defending a WC Claim for Pre-existing Low Back Injuries (Matt Gorski – Respondent/Bryan Shell – Petitioner); Governor Rauner’s Workers’ Compensation Reform Proposal (Emily Gibellina – Associate General Counsel for the Office of the Governor, Bruce Rauner); The Aging Workforce and Its Impact on WC and Disability (Dave Taylor – Reyes Holdings).
Dr. Cole told OTW, “There are many conditions that patients can co-exist with if properly educated (concomitant meniscus tears and osteoarthritis and chronic rotator cuff tears) and proper non-surgical care is provided.”
“Injured employees are really no different than athletes or non-occupational injured patients. The goal is to efficiently diagnose, provide safe treatment (non-operative or operative) and a reliable return to the work setting with minimal risk of re-injury.”
Athletico Physical Therapy and H-Wave are Gold Level sponsors for this event.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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