Utah has become one of the least costly states in the nation for a business to obtain workers’ compensation insurance. In his session Utah’s Proactive Approach in Workers’ Compensation, Alan Colledge, Medical Director of the State of Utah Labor Commission, reviewed measures currently in use by his state. These include controlling physical therapy and chiropractic utilization, advanced pain guidelines, annual updates of physicians’ fee schedules, and a program of provider education.

Colledge suggested that the current system of managing work-related back injuries can in some cases, not only be extremely ineffective, but actually promote disability. Utilizing the acronym “S.P.I.C.E.” (Simplicity, Proximity, Immediacy, Centrality and Expectancy), Colledge discussed how to identify personal and employment factors that may predispose a worker to an injury claim and expensive delayed recovery, and how to apply this model to prevent this from occurring.

An audio recording and handouts from this session are available here.