Integrating vocational rehabilitation in medical settings.

The current trend of health care cost containment has paved the way for innovative program development, utilizing current staff as well as introducing new professionals to traditional health care settings. Work capacity evaluation, physical capacity evaluation, and work hardening programs are proving to be lucrative ventures for capturing the worker's compensation market. These programs will increase their solvency as industrial injuries continue to rise, and insurance companies continue to seek objective work functioning evaluation units to clarify patient return-to-work potential. With these new program efforts, vocational evaluators and vocational rehabilitation counselors will assume their traditional roles in new rehabilitation settings. As long as hospitals continue to focus on out patient treatment programs, and insurance companies procure objective work evaluation and treatment program services, the market place for vocational rehabilitation professionals will continue to expand.