Staying connected and returning to work

Staying connected to work, even in a different capacity that reflects the injured worker’s current abilities, can have a big impact on a patient’s confidence as well as their psychological and even physical recovery.

As the physician, your opinion, recommendations, and caring questions can encourage a patient to either stay connected to work, or to return as quickly as possible. 

Our approach

Our goal is to ensure workers injured on the job can either stay connected to work, or return to work, in a safe, timely manner.

  • Safe: meaning the worker’s abilities match the job, which may be different than pre-injury duties.
  • Timely: meaning the patient loses no time at work or returns quickly with accommodations.
  • Staying connected: meaning the patient is assigned to transitional duties that allow them to recover at work.
  • Return to work: meaning returning to the pre-injury position, if possible, or to accommodated/transitional duties.

As a physician, you play a key role in this approach by understanding your role and responsibility in Working to Well.

Helping a worker is a team effort 

As the physician, not only do you have an important relationship with the worker, but you have an integral role on the health care team, ensuring the worker’s treatment and recovery support their ongoing wellness. Along the way, you may work with other team members including:

Case Worker

Adjudicates claims for compensation and approves benefits.

Chief Medical Officer 

Provides strategic leadership and facilitates health care partnerships to enable the vision and mission of WCB Nova Scotia.

Medical Advisors and consultants

The Medical Advisor plays a key role in reviewing claims and providing medical advice/opinions to Case Workers on matters including but not limited to: diagnosis, causation, treatment, necessity of medical testing/procedures/medical aid, pre-existing conditions, return-to-work support, and medical impairment. As key members of integrated WCB teams, Medical Advisors operate collaboratively and liaise with health services professionals in the community to educate, collaborate, and promote safe and timely return to work.

Permanent Impairment Examiner

Some work related injuries result in permanent loss of function to areas of the body affected by the injury. As PMI Examiners, physicians review client files, perform examinations to assess the extent to which the client has lost function, and using the American Medical Association (AMA) guidelines the physician will assign the client an impairment rating. The PMI Examiner plays a key role in reviewing claims to provide medical advice and PMI ratings to case workers to ensure WCB clients receive appropriate benefits and services. 

Enhanced Physician Services

Enhanced Physician Services (EPS) was established as a resource to both physicians and the WCB in the biopsychosocial evaluation of workers with occupational injuries and occupational diseases, as part of the original contract between the WCB and Doctors Nova Scotia in 2006.

Physicians participating in EPS work as independent contractors and are compensated on a fee for service basis according to the new agreement. Occupational medicine issues can be complex, and they require time, desire, expertise to deal with WCB cases. EPS provides a resource for treating physicians, WCB case workers or for physicians who do not wish to care for workers or need additional support regarding treatment, functional abilities and return to work.

Workers may be referred to a physician participating in EPS for an assessment where it may be beneficial for the overall health outcomes for the injured worker and for supporting the safe and timely return to work.  Physicians participating in EPS may also be used to provide consistency of care when a worker has no treating physician. Enhanced Physician Services include independent medical examinations, and advice on treatment plans, functional abilities and return to work planning consistent with Medical Disability Advisor (MDA) guidelines.