ODG Treatment 2010, which will be in its 8th annual edition as of January 2010, provides independent, evidence-based medical treatment guidelines for conditions commonly associated with the workplace. ODG Treatment is unique and effective because, within the Procedure Summary, each recommendation is electronically linked directly to abstracts of the medical evidence.

ODG Treatment is designed for clinical practice as well as utilization review/management. The overall objectives of users of ODG Treatment are:

• To improve outcomes and patient satisfaction by focusing on restoration of functional capacity through prompt, responsible delivery of healthcare based on the best medical evidence
• To reduce excessive utilization of medical services (and corresponding medical costs)
• To identify and target ineffective and harmful procedures, thus reducing risk on injured workers
• To reduce delayed recovery rates and indemnity costs with the concurrent management of treatment and time away from work
• To improve clinical practice/utilization management by indexing procedures adjacent to a summary of their effectiveness based on supporting evidence, provided by way of link, in abstract form
• To automate approval for universally effective treatment methods, where appropriate, reducing friction and administrative delays on necessary medical care
• To open the lines of communication among all parties in the return-to-work process by providing a common framework based on existing and emerging medical evidence
• To help injured workers get back on their feet in good time, safely, easily and effectively
• To take evidence-based medicine to its logical endpoint, the convergence of health, wellness, productivity, efficiency and responsible, cost-effective medical care  
• To use guidelines that have been accepted by the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) for inclusion in the National Guidelines Clearinghouse www.guidelines.gov

Check out available formats & cost, complete background info & samples, explanation of WLDI medical literature ratings, the Editorial Advisory Board, place your order now, or sign up for a 30-day free trial.  ODG Treatment is packaged with Official Disability Guidelines, truly an integrated strongbox for protocols on medical treatment, disability duration, and utilization review/management.  Review an outline of methodology used for both sets of guidelines, and the unique and major advantages of Official Disability Guidelines – Treatment in Workers Comp (ODG).

ODG demos/training: New: #1 recommendation for ODG training, a free self-paced Web based demo called ODG: Good to Go! -- Has all the benefits of a live demo, but also lets users spend more time on sections of interest, and skip features where training is not needed. To access this new tool, go to www.odg-disability.com/demo/ Other self-paced ODG training options are the following: Click here to go to a online self-paced interactive training demo of ODG Treatment in a Microsoft PowerPoint® presentation.  (Note: without high speed Internet access, it may take up to 5 minutes for this demo to initialize on your PC, but after that it should run quickly.)  Click here to go to an abbreviated ODG training demo narrative. (This narrative is in the MP3 format, and it has been shortened so that it takes less than 30 minutes.  The narrative is designed to walk new users through the complete Website, so access to www.odgtreatment.com is required to fully benefit from the narrative.)   Finally, Click here to go to a short overview of ODG in a Microsoft PowerPoint® presentation.

New ODG Crosswalk UR Advisor file:  This is a new tool that has just become available, which is based partially on ODG Treatment and is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the UR process by automating claims management decision-making.  It should be a significant enhancement for claims management in workers' comp.  The complete file contains every possible combination of ICD9 diagnosis code and CPT procedure code seen in workers' comp, a total of over 200,000 records, based on over 2 million claims and 20 million medical invoices.  For each ICD9-CPT combination, it provides information on frequency as well as number of visits, plus recommendations from ODG Treatment.  The last column is called, "Bill Review Payment Flag," and this is Green, Yellow, Red, or Black.  Here is what they mean:

·         Green = OK to auto-pay up to ODG CAA max number of visits [indicated based on appearing in ODG Treatment Codes for Automated Approval]

·         Yellow = May be OK to auto-pay up to 25^th percentile (or 50^th depending on policy) number of visits [defined by either (1) Frequency over 10% & Incidence over .05, or (2) Frequency over 2% & average total cost per claim under $200 for all use of this CPT code in the claim & Incidence over .03, or (3) Frequency over 1% & average total cost per claim under $50 for all use of this CPT code in the claim & Incidence over .01]

·         Red = Need to review [defined by not selected above]

·         Black or Not listed = Not approve [(a) Black = Incidence Rate less than .10 & Frequency under 2%, meaning should be very rare, or (b) Not listed = should never happen]

Click here to view sample data from the new ODG Crosswalk UR Advisor file.

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Last modified: August 20, 2009