Lawrence Raymond, MD, Medical Director, Atrium Health's Employer Solutions
What if your employees didn’t have to leave work to get medical advice? What if you didn’t have to send people out for a wellness exam or physical, or schedule appointments for pre-employment screening activities? You would likely save a lot of time and expense. This is what life is like for organizations that use occupational health testing services.
Increasingly, service providers are offering complete occupational health testing services covering a variety of workplace-related needs. Inclusive packages help employers save time and money by using one provider for all occupational health testing and services. Often, clinicians can be brought into the workplace, a factor that adds convenience for employees.
Some of the services employers use most frequently include:
Physicals. There are many reasons employers need employees to take physical exams. Some examples include commercial driving requirements, pre-employment/post-offer screening, HazMat, executive level testing, and physical abilities testing to ensure applicants are physically capable of performing job functions.
Other common physicals include the fit for duty test to ensure previously injured employees who are returning to work are physically capable of performing job functions, and respirator clearance exams to determine if an employee can safely and effectively wear a respirator as required by OSHA.
Workers compensation. Injury treatment is often a component of workers compensation claims. Providing on-site or easy access to injury treatment is a cost-effective way to deliver an all-encompassing workplace solution to employees with workers compensation benefits.
Laboratory and other diagnostic services are often required in workplace settings for pre-employment and routine purposes. Some of the most frequently used services include drug screening, breath alcohol, radiology, spirometry, audiogram, immunizations and vaccinations.
Access to physical rehabilitation and a network of other specialties make occupational health services a major tool for employers looking to offer robust and complete medical service for their employees. Providing easy access to physical rehabilitation and other specialties means employees may be more likely to complete rehabilitation or treatment programs allowing them to return to work in good health and more quickly.
Customized clinical services, exams and evaluations create a path to care for specific organization or individual needs that go beyond the scope of standard offerings. Additional components can be built into each occupational health plan to address needs specific to each organization.
If you’re interested in trying occupational health testing and other services, please call us at (704) 631-1200.
