WORKERS' COMP. PROJECT
Harmful Misconceptions
Animated Explainer Video
Aminated Explainer Video
Run time: 3:08 min
Created using: Vyond with Elevenlabs for AI text-to-speech narration)
"Harmful Misconceptions" aims to persuade more physicians to care for injured workers by debunking several myths related to the workers' compensation operating environment in Florida. It clarifies that court disputes are rare, paperwork is minimal (only one document), and workers' compensation is a good payor. The video highlights efforts to raise provider rates and discusses benefits like steady referrals and reliable revenue while highlighting that treating workers contributes to a happier, healthier, and more productive society.
DWC-25 Interactive
Interactive Learning Object
Interactive Learning Object
Run time: Self-Paced
Created using Articulate Storyline
The DWC-25 Interactive is an intuitive adaption of a critically important two-page document that is to completed for each workers' comp. patient visit in the State of Florida. Completing the form thoroughly and accurately protects the physician (and their practice) from being pulled into legal disputes between an employee and their employer. This interactive learning object is essentially a sophisticated job aid developed to mitigate the risk to physicians of being diposed.
Business Challenge
In Florida, there is a shortage of medical providers who will treat patients that are injured on the job. In fact, only about a quarter of all physicians treat Worker’s Compensation (WC) patients, making it difficult for many employers to find doctors for their injured workers.
Project Team
Name: Will Bachman, M.Ed., PMP, CSM
Project Role: Project Manager / Instructional Designer
Functional Title: Sr. Instructional Designer
Involvement:
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As the Project Manager, I determined the project management approach and coordinated the project planning. I facilitated project meetings and kept the project on schedule and in alignment with project objectives.
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As the Instructional Designer, I designed and developed the project deliverables with the assistance of the subject matter experts who provided the information.
Pseudonym: Mr. Bernal
Project Role: Project Sponsor
Functional Title: Sr. Director Business Development
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​Pseudonym: Ms. Rivas, MBA, MS
Project Role: Product Owner
Functional Title: Mgr. Business Development
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Name: The Workers' Compensation Workgroup
Project Role: Subject Matter Experts
Functional Title: Cross-Functional
Involvement: The Workers' Compensation Workgroup is a cross-functional team of professionals who span the WC field. They include professionals with expertise in a variely of WCThey offer feedback on all Worker's Comp. initiatives
​​Pseudonym: Dr. Nelson, M.D. MPH FACOEM
Project Role: Subject Matter Expert
Functional Title: Director
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Pseudonym: Ms. Lelani
Project Role: Subject Matter Expert
Functional Title: Director (WC)
Project Management Approach
HYBRID PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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The analysis, planning and closing phases of the project were conducted using a traditional process-based (waterfall) approach while the design and devleopment of the deliverables were developed using an iterative (agile) approach where I we structured the sprints to create a versions of a final product.​
Analysis
Why aren’t more physicians treating worker’s compensation patients?
To answer this question, we developed a survey that was completed by around 50 physicians. We then conducted two focus groups- one group of comprised of physicians who already accepted WC patients, and another group of physicians who did not.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The most common reasons for not taking WC patients were:
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The belief that they are likely to get “caught up” in legal conflicts between the employer and the employee.
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The belief that WC is not a good payor
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The belief that taking worker’s comp. patients requires completing a lot of paperwork.
The most common reasons for taking WC patients were:
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Reliable stream of revenue from local employers
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Better community recognition
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It's the right thing to do
Why do we perform an analysis of the performance problem?
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"This is the most important step. If you skip this step and just agree that training is the only solution, you could waste huge amounts of money and time. Also, if you skip this step, you might as well throw away your goal. You can't reach a goal if you don't identify and remove the barriers in your way. Also, you'll have no impactful way to measure the effect of your hard work." (Moore, 2017, p.109)
Moore, C. (2017). Map it: The hands-on guide to strategic training design. Montesa Press.
The Worker's Comp Workgroup believed these reasons for not accepting workers' compensation patients was mostly misinformed. To investigate these claims in order to provide physicians with the most accurate information regarding the state of Workers’ Comp. in Florida, we:
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Researched the total number of workers compensation claims and the total number of claims that were litigated in Florida by year over the past 5 years (2017-2022) to determine the likelihood of a doctor getting drawn into a court case.
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Spoke with a Hillsborough County judge who hears these cases to gain more insight into what legal proceedings of this type require of physicians. His office was also able to provide useful quantitative information regarding WC cases at the state and county levels.
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Reserached the average Workers Comp. reimbursement for the most common procedures and compared those rates to Medicare reimbursement rates.
As a result of our analysis, we learned that:
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The likelihood of dispute over a WC claim was rare, less than 1 in 200. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of these claims are resolved outside of the court room. When doctors are asked to testify in a WC, the primary reason is due to incomplete or inaccurate information on the DWC-25 (a medical form complete for each WC patient visit).
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Compensation for WC is already much higher than Medicare. Additionally, there is legislation, which is set to pass, that will raise provider rates futher.
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The DWC-25 (a simple two-page document) is the only form physicians are asked to complete with their WC patients. This form standardizes information that is already being captured in the physician’s clinical notes. i.e. Doctors treating WC patients do not have to complete the a lot of paperwork.
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Completing the DWC-25 accurately and thoroughly greatly reduces the liklihood of being deposed.
The Solutions
Our solutions were rooted in the outcome of our analysis. We had just learned that we needed to:
1) Inform physicians about common misconceptions relating to workers compensation and
2) Provide a resource to facilitate the thorough completion of an important document, the DWC-25.​
​An Animated Explainer Video was chosen because...
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Wide reach/Easy to distribute
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Easy access - No additional steps such as logging in to an LMS​
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Is public facing -Shows the Organization's commitment to the topic​
An Interactive Learning Object was chosen because...
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Spatial Contiguity Principle (i.e.. learners benefit from having corresponding words/descriptions and images presented close together)
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Just-in-Time Teaching (JITT) It is best to provide the information needed at the time it is needed.
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We also selected to "published to web" and locate the object in a frequently visited online location​
Design & Development
Process documentation serves as a critical safeguard against oversights that could jeopardize project outcomes. To ensure success, project documents must be adaptable to change. They work best when they are seen as a guide that give team members direction without confining them or threatening creativity. Here are a few of the documents that I used with the project team throughout the project.
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DOCUMENTATION
Project Intake Form
This intake form chronicles the performance problem or "opportunity" and establishes high-level project objectives. It also describes the proposed scope and timeline and identifies important project stakeholders. The responses to these questions are used to initiate the instructional project.
Project Intake Form
​Click the arrows to view each document.
- Manifesto for Agile Software Development
Agile Principle #10: Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.
​Process documentation serves as a critical safeguard against oversights that could jeopardize project outcomes. The project intake form collects all essential background information needed to initiate the project while the design document, or storyboard, informs the product development and reduces rework through collaborative planning and iteration. The quality assurance (QA) review form ensures deliverables meet rigorous quality benchmarks. Together, these documents maintain excellence throughout the project lifecycle by reducing rework and improving project outcomes.
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The Design of the DWC-25 Interactive
This animation demonstrates the learner's experience as they are able to move freely up and down the down through the document. The full DWC-25 is a two-page document.
In creating the DWC-Interactive, I aimed to have the learner/user experience feel as natural as possible so that the learner's focus would remain on the content and not the This interactive was designed in alignment with the following Adult Learning Principles (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005).
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Immediacy of Application - Adults prefer learning content they can immediately apply
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Problem-Centered Learning - Adults learn more effectively when content addresses immediate challenges
To reduce distractions (i.e. reduce cognitive load), I removed the Articulate Storyline player and created custom navigation using hover states. To navigate up and down in the document, the learner simply mouses over the top or bottom of their screen to reveal the up or down (previous/next) button. To the learner, this means that when they are learning about each section of the DWC-25 form, that is all that they see until they are ready to proceed.
Additionally, the learner has control over their learning as they are not forced to view all of the content. The
We wanted the learners to be able to have the interactive open as they completed a DWC-25 form.
Section Title
The design and development of these two instructional products were completed in unison.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The most common reasons for not taking WC patients were:
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The belief that they are likely to get “caught up” in legal conflicts between the employer and the employee.
-
The belief that WC is not a good payor
-
The belief that taking worker’s comp. patients requires completing a lot of paperwork.
The most common reasons for taking WC patients were:
-
Reliable stream of revenue from local employers
-
Better community recognition
-
It's the right thing to do
Implementation
The deploymenof these two instructional products were completed in unison
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The most common reasons for not taking WC patients were:
-
The belief that they are likely to get “caught up” in legal conflicts between the employer and the employee.
-
The belief that WC is not a good payor
-
The belief that taking worker’s comp. patients requires completing a lot of paperwork.
The most common reasons for taking WC patients were:
-
Reliable stream of revenue from local employers
-
Better community recognition
-
It's the right thing to do
Evaluation
The deploymenof these two instructional products were completed in unison
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The most common reasons for not taking WC patients were:
-
The belief that they are likely to get “caught up” in legal conflicts between the employer and the employee.
-
The belief that WC is not a good payor
-
The belief that taking worker’s comp. patients requires completing a lot of paperwork.
The most common reasons for taking WC patients were:
-
Reliable stream of revenue from local employers
-
Better community recognition
-
It's the right thing to do