Nearly 4 million U.S. workers were out of work due to injury or illness in 2024, and the likelihood of ever returning drops sharply after the 12-week mark.
DMEC's July analysis of stay-at-work and return-to-work strategies puts a hard number on what most claim professionals already sense. The window closes faster than most programs are designed for. Waiting for the treating physician to volunteer a modified-duty release almost guarantees the window closes first.
Effective RTW starts as a design decision at first report, well before it becomes an event at the end of a claim. Who owns the conversation with the employer. Who confirms modified duty is real, not theoretical. Who checks in with the worker in weeks two, four, and eight, not week fourteen.
Atlas builds return-to-work into the initial case plan, not the closing summary. The clinical team, the employer contact, and the injured worker are all working from the same timeline from day one.
If your program measured itself on how many claims reach week 12 without a modified-duty plan on file, what would that number look like?
Source: DMEC, Building Smarter Stay-at-Work and Return-to-Work Strategies
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