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 $1.5 million by 2002, 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.
