How a Columbus contractor got three injured crews evaluated, treated, and cleared for modified duty within six business days
In workers' comp, the documentation is the case. A contractor cut injured crew time by handling the medical visit and the paperwork in a single stop.
- Injured employees
- 3Injured employees
- Business days
- 6Business days
- Days fully off the job
- 0Days fully off the job
The Challenge
Three separate crews reported injuries within a week on a Columbus commercial job - a strained back from material handling, a laceration from a broken strap, and a hand injury from a fall. All three needed formal evaluation, and in Ohio the employer's documentation timeline is short.
The bottleneck was not the injuries themselves. It was the paperwork. Each visit had to produce a report that both satisfied the workers' comp filing requirement and clearly defined what the employee could and could not do at work, because a vague restriction is functionally the same as a full work stoppage. Employees sent home with no restrictions simply did not come back.
At a glance
- Organization
- Commercial general contractor
- Industry
- Construction
- Service
- Injury evaluation, workers' comp documentation
- Location
- E Broad St, Columbus, Ohio
- Volume
- 3 injured employees, one week
One visit that produces both the care and the clearance
We scheduled all three employees into the same week and made sure each visit ended with a written, specific return-to-work determination rather than an open-ended note.
Consolidated scheduling
All three were seen inside six business days, coordinating around each crew's work schedule so nobody lost more time than their restrictions required.
Specific, enforceable restrictions
Each report stated exactly what the employee could do - modified duty, no lifting over a set weight, no overhead work - rather than leaving it open.
Workers' comp documentation handled in house
The medical documentation required for the claim was produced as part of the visit, with nothing left for the employer to assemble afterwards.
Follow-up scheduled before discharge
Check-ins were booked at the point of discharge, so recovery is tracked actively rather than hoping employees return uninjured.
Results
Clearances issued inside the same week
None of the three employees sat out longer than their clinical restrictions required, because those restrictions were written down clearly enough to act on.
No missing documentation on the claims
Every file had the required medical documentation on the day of the visit, which kept the employer's filing obligations current.
A repeatable process for the next injury
The contractor now has a standing referral path, so the next work injury is a phone call rather than a scramble.
The visits were never the problem. The problem was always the note that came back saying 'modified duty' without saying what that meant, because then my superintendents had no idea who could be on site. iMed writes restrictions we can actually build a schedule around.
Key Takeaways
- An ambiguous work restriction is a full work stoppage in practice, no matter what the paperwork technically says.
- Batching injured employees into a single week shortens the period where nobody is sure what is allowed.
- Documentation produced at the visit is what keeps a workers' comp filing defensible.
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- Total visit cost
- $189Total visit cost
- Time in clinic
- 38 minTime in clinic
- Days off work
- 2Days off work