| Aging Workforce Historical DOE |
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ART Corporate Solutions and the Aging WorkforceIn August 2008, ART presented a workshop at the Annual OSHA VPPPA National Conference. The workshop examined how the ART Corporate Programs data compared to the consensus of other published data regarding the aging workforce. That consensus can be stated as, "Older workers tend to have fewer injuries, however, when they do have an injury it costs more than their younger counterparts and takes longer to heal than those of their younger counterparts". In the last decade, the number of aging workers has increased at a much more rapid rate than that of their younger counterparts. The trend is expected to continue particularly in workers aged 55 and over throughout the next decade.  (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2008, Spotlight on Statistics, Older Workers) In general, NCCI (The National Council on Compensation Insurance) indicates that older workers tend to have fewer workplace injuries, BUT, their injuries result in higher average costs. * The trend of claim costs rising in severity with an aging workforce only emphasizes the importance for employers and their insurers to implement evaluations for fitness for duty, accurate job descriptions and a return to work program. * Innovative soft tissue interventions, implemented early, are also being considered and evaluated for their possible effects in reducing workplace strains, sprains, MSD’s, and overuse injuries across all age groups. (* Source: RAS, An Aging Workforce-The Potential Impact on Worker’s Compensation (NCCI Newsletter Vol. 2, 2005) ART Corporate Solutions is in the process of completing a historical design of experiment (DOE) that looked for two major results. The two major questions in regard to the aging workforce receiving ART in wellness and prevention programs across the country were; how well do employees improve across the different age groups (both in completeness of recovery and in number of ART sessions required to recover)? And, do employers benefit in cost savings across the differnet age groups? The following table illustrates the current results across the differing age groups within 105 corporate locations utilizing the ART On Site Care Program during the first 9 months of this year.  This Response Surface Analysis of more than 13,000 employee cases occurring over the past four years has already demonstrated some remarkable conclusions. For employees receiving ART as a company benefit there is a statistically relevant increase in the number of ART sessions to resolve each condition. From the practical standpoint, however, that statisical difference is expressed in tenths of an ART session. This means that, practically speaking, whether the employee is 25 or 65 years of age they are still resolving their aches, pains and discomforts within an average of 3 to 4 ART sessions! There was not a statisically significant result regarding the completeness of employee improvement. This means, again, that whether the employee is 25 or 65 years of age they still acheive a better than 90% improvement with the ART On Site Care Program! A complete report of the Historical Design of Experiment is expected to be published by January 2009. |