Consensus Based Disability Management Audit™ (CBDMA™)

Background:

Disability Management strategies targeted at the effective and safe reintegration of injured and ill workers have demonstrated significant benefit in measurably reducing the economic and social costs of disabilities on employers, workers, insurance and rehabilitation providers, and government.

National and international research has identified the key success factors in the effective implementation of these return to work and disability management strategies which will consistently produce positive measurable economic and social outcomes across a broad range of organizational settings and jurisdictional boundaries.

Research, as well as operational models in Canada, Europe, the United States and Australia, identified the need for a reliable, psychometrically defensible and transferable disability management program assessment tool designed to offer an accurate current snapshot of any workplace disability management program in addition to optimum program improvement opportunities.

In response to this demand, as well as in concert with the development of an international Code of Practice for Disability Management, NIDMAR, with support from the Government of Canada and in collaboration with a major cross section of large employers, unions and workers compensation boards, embarked on the development of a psychometrically stable, calibrated and scorable disability management program audit tool.

With development, testing and calibration expenditures exceeding $2.0 million by 2004, the Consensus Based Disability Management Audit™ (CBDMA™) is today a highly regarded, web-enabled and well-researched tool that measures disability management program performance in a range of large and small workplace settings, both in the private and public sectors.

Benchmarking for Success:

Disability management practices are as varied as the organizations that implement disability management programs. Organizations wishing to maximize their return on investment in the practice of disability management now have a tool at their disposal to help them measure their disability management program performance

The Consensus Based Disability Management Audit™ (CBDMA™) is a highly regarded and well-researched tool that can be used by organizations as:

• An evaluation tool, to determine current disability management program performance
• A monitoring tool, when administered at regular intervals, to reveal relative increases or decreases in effectiveness for each audit area measured
• A corrective tool, to establish where program deficiencies are, highlighting remedial actions required
• A program promotion tool, maintaining disability management concepts in worker consciousness, and demonstrating management’s commitment to workplace disability management practices
• A disability management premium pricing rate setting tool, providing incentives for employers, which encourages adoption of optimum disability management practices designed to reduce costs and disability claims duration as well as lower incidences of long-term disability
• A conformity assessment tool, to determine if an organization qualifies for International Disability Management Standards Council™ (IDMSC™) certification

The CBDMA™ tool has been developed so that it provides total quality management. It is an objective tool that safeguards against manipulation of the results by any of the involved parties using a combination of

• consensus-based questions,
• documented evidence, and
• survey/interview questions,

and it provides a complete program analysis.

What are the benefits of the CBDMA™?

The CBDMA™ provides an organization with a number of important benefits including:

• Providing the tools to comply with duty to accommodate legislation
• Reducing the number of days lost due to injuries and illness
• Reducing costs associated with short and long term disability assessment rates
• Reducing workers compensation assessment rates
• Provides the basis of cooperation between management and labour by using the consensus based approach

What does the CBDMA™ do?

The CBDMA™ Standards were designed to:

1. Establish a minimum acceptable benchmark for disability management programs in the workplace.
2. Identify opportunities for disability management program improvement.
3. Encourage the adoption of best practices in disability management.

What Happens During the CBDMA™ Process?

All Consensus Based Disability Management Audits are completed by Certified CBDMA™ Auditors. In order to become a Certified Auditor, an individual must be experienced in the field of disability management, hold a Certified Disability Management Professional (CDMP) certification, take extensive training in the use of the audit tool and pass a comprehensive examination.

The Certified Auditor works with the organization to develop a timeline for the administration of the audit tool. In most instances, the Auditor will need to be at the worksite for two to three days.

During the time the Auditor is at the worksite, they will carefully examine every aspect of the organization’s disability management program. The CBDMA™ is comprised of 180 questions grouped into three main categories:

1. Disability Management Policy and Workplace Resources
2. Disability Prevention
3. Early Intervention and Timely Return to Work Process.

The Certified CBDMA™ Auditor will obtain information about the disability management program using three methodologies:

1. Consensus Based: Questions are provided during a meeting of an equal number of management and labour representatives and are answered as a group.
2. Evidence Based: These questions are intended to provide verification that good disability management practices and procedures have been implemented at the workplace.
3. Survey Based: Survey/interview questions are used to gather data from a random sampling of workers and managers.

The information gathered at the workplace is entered into the online audit tool which produces a standardized audit score and a written report explaining the results of the audit.