Missouri’s Workers’ Comp Leader Adopts Official Disability Guidelines

January 5^th, 2006 – Columbia, Missouri – Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance (MEM) -- Missouri’s No. 1 provider of workers' compensation insurance -- has chosen Work Loss Data Institute’s Official Disability Guidelines  (ODG) to manage and oversee treatment and expected disability duration for workers’ compensation claims.  MEM has nearly 17,000 policyholders in all 114 counties statewide. 

ODG will enable MEM to reduce expected disability duration based on an aggregate of over 10 million cases while using the latest available medical evidence in making treatment decisions to improve outcomes for workers injured on the job in Missouri.  In addition, workers’ comp expenditures will remain focused on the goal of recovery and the best utilization of available medical services.  Most unique about the ODG approach is that links are provided from each recommendation to the supporting medical evidence, so it can be consulted and quoted directly.

According to Phil Denniston, president of Work Loss Data Institute, "As the number one choice of Missouri employers for workers’ compensation insurance, we are proud to call Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance a client.  Missouri has performed well to date in our biannual State Report Cards for Workers’ Comp study, and with the MEM adoption of ODG, we expect that to continue.”

From Ted Jeffries, Assistant Director of Medical and Disability Management at MEM: “ODG is a ‘win-win’ solution for our policyholders and their employees. The primary objective of ODG is improved patient outcomes and return-to-work through the restoration of function.  That supports MEM’s commitment to achieving the best medical and financial outcomes for our policyholders and their injured employees.  We are also pleased that ODG is not the opinion of any single specialty provider group, but instead bridges the interest of the many parties involved in diagnosing, treating and managing workplace illness and injury based on best available medical evidence.”

Several state and provincial workers’ compensation authorities have, to some degree, adopted nationally recognized, evidence-based medical treatment guidelines to improve outcomes and reduce workers’ compensation costs.  In the latest edition of State Report Cards for Workers’ Comp, those states that have done so scored dramatically better than those that did not.  Not surprisingly, more are now moving in that direction.

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Last modified: January 25, 2006