The physician's role in workers' compensation

This article reviews the medical literature and describes the author's personal experience with the physician's role in workers' compensation. Work disability costs approach $150 billion in the United States. Legal aspects of workers' compensation and the Americans with Disabilities Act are reviewed. The physician specializing in industrial medicine and occupational rehabilitation can be involved in any or all of several components of care: prevention, new employee screens, urgent care, rehabilitation of chronically disabled employees and determination of work-relatedness and disability. Each of these components is discussed in detail.