What we do

Core services

How we support you & your employees

Providing businesses and employees with innovative solutions and personalized support through the entire absence process.

Early Intervention

A health event significant enough to lead to a medical absence from work can create stress and uncertainty. DMI’s Early Intervention Service is designed to support employees and employers as early as Week 1 of the absence. With Early Intervention, return-to-work rates increase and there are four times fewer Long-Term Disability claims.

Employers refer their employees to us as soon as they are aware an employee may be away for five or more shifts. DMI will then step in to provide expert case management, ensuring that all parties have what they need to promote recovery and ensure a safe, sustainable return to work.

Early Intervention Includes:

  • Ongoing communication with employees and employers
  • Partnering with healthcare providers
  • Assistance navigating the healthcare system
  • Referring for additional supports and services
  • Integration with our rehab and speciality services
  • Developing and monitoring return-to-work programs
  • Assistance with applications for disability benefits

Advice to Pay

DMI’s Advice to Pay service provides employers with assistance in the adjudication and management of employee absences during the self-insured Short-Term Disability (STD) period. With over 90% return to work rate, we will provide you with the information required to run your business, while providing your employees with the support they need to recover.

Advice to Pay includes:

  • Developing a policy to meet your needs
  • Assessing claims and providing an initial recommendation
  • Providing ongoing follow-up and case management
  • Partnering with healthcare providers
  • Reviewing opportunities for additional intervention
  • Developing and monitoring return to work plans
  • Facilitating transition to Long-Term Disability benefits if required

Workers Compensation claim management

Rising workers compensation rates don’t have to be accepted as the cost of doing business. DMI’s expert WCB Claims Management team can help return employees back to work in a safe and timely manner, while helping to control your claim costs in the process.

Our team members possess decades of experience working with workers compensation boards across Canada and will support you through the entire claims management process by:

  • Submitting claims directly to the board
  • Proactively managing files to reduce time loss.
  • Building a modified duties program
  • Developing and monitoring return to work plans
  • Obtaining Relief of Cost
  • Representing you at appeals
  • Providing regular reporting for your Occupational Health & Safety Committee

Relief of Cost review

Errors and omissions from your workers compensation statements can cost thousands of dollars in premium increases, with the impact lasting for years. DMI helps organizations that are dealing with high WCB rates, yet don’t have time to look back and review all claims details themselves.

DMI will complete an initial review of all historical claims contributing to your current premium rate, at no cost. If we find errors or omissions that have added costs to your account, we will pursue these with the board on your behalf. If our submission is unsuccessful, there is no charge to you, meaning you can work with us with zero risk.

If our efforts are successful, you will reap the benefits of an immediate decrease to your claim costs and may see an improvement in your rates and overall experience rating performance.

Claims services

DMI objectively reviews claims, verifies absences to help streamline claim administration, and ensures a positive outcome on files that require review. We offer comprehensive assessment, analysis and ongoing management of Disability and Life & Living claims.

Claims services include:

  • Short Term Disability (STD)
  • Mid Term Disability
  • Long Term Disability (LTD)
  • Life Claims
  • Critical Illness, Accidental Death and Dismemberment, Accident and Serious Illness

DMI offers supplemental claim services to support your business needs including claim reviews, change of definition (COD) reviews, functional telephone interview (FTI) support, coaching and quality audit services, metrics and performance reporting, and training and development. DMI helps minimize impact to business by supporting claims activities during periods of staffing shortages or seasonal fluctuations.

Rehab services

DMI offers a full spectrum of rehab solutions including physical, vocational, behavioural and medical assessment services. Rehab case management is vital to reducing the duration of many complex absence files. Engaging with stakeholders including health care providers to identify cost effective solutions focused on regaining recovery and Return-to-Work (RTW).

We are here to help employers and insurers return individuals to health, wellness and work by expediting and coordinating individually tailored services. DMI currently partners with over 50 best-in-class treatment providers throughout Canada.

Rehab Case Management includes, but is not limited to:

  • Telephone calls or in person visits with stakeholders (such as doctors and/or treatment providers, employers, the case manager, and so on)
  • Telephone or in-person interaction with your employee
  • On-going assessment of barriers, influencing factors, and gaps in function with regards to critical job demands
  • Action plans and reporting to address barriers to bridge the gap to RTW.
  • Return to work planning, development and monitoring
  • Coordination of treatment services (counselling, psychiatric consultation, physical therapy) and vocational services (transferable skills analysis)

Claim Support

  • Functional Telephone Interviews
  • Change of Definition Reviews
  • Canadian Pension Plan – Disability application assistance
  • Case Management Task Support

Rehab Specialty Services includes coordination of treatment and assessment services includes but is also not limited to the following:

Physical Assessment

  • Ergonomic Assessment
  • Functional Abilities Evaluation
  • Physical Demands Analysis
  • Work Site Assessment
  • Living Care Benefit Assessment

Vocational Services

  • Transferrable Skills Analysis
  • Vocational Evaluation
  • Psycho-vocational Assessment
  • Job Search Assistance & Monitoring
  • Job Search Lite
  • Labour Market Survey
  • Employment Training Plan

Behavioural Services

  • Mental Health Reactivation Program
  • Persistent Pain Reactivation Program
  • Cognitive Abilities Evaluation
  • Cognitive Demands Analysis
  • Cognitive Skills Training

Medical Intervention

  • Pillcheck
  • Independent Medical Evaluations
  • MRI & Diagnostic Coordination

Wellness Modules

  • Assertiveness & Self confidence
  • Managing Workplace Anxiety
  • Stress Management
  • Time Management
  • Work Life Balance

Additional services

Supplementary services to meet your unique needs

DMI pays close attention to our clients’ needs in order to tailor additional supportive strategies and tools that are going to work for you.

Stay at work programs

Our in-depth understanding of employment laws and duty to accommodate are critical in handling and supporting situations where an employee’s health may be impacting their ability to perform at work.

Insurer, employee & employer training

DMI offers customized training for both the employee and the employer. Some examples of our comprehensive training library includes topics such as mental health in the workplace, accommodation best practices, cognitive skills training, injury prevention, ergonomic solutions, group workshops, and many more.

Some of our trainings include topics such as:

  • Communication Strategies
  • Beliefs and the Function-Focused Approach
  • Claims: Understanding the Contract
  • Proactive Case Management
  • Return-to-Work Planning
  • Managing Mental Health in the Workplace
  • Cognitive Skills Training
  • Injury Prevention Training
  • Ergonomic Solutions Training
  • Duty to Accommodate

Customized training for other Disability Management topics available upon request.

Mental health services

Mental health-related claims have been rising steadily over the past decade and present complex and sensitive issues, at times requiring more complex case management. At DMI, mental health files referred to our team are assigned to a specialized team who possess the skills and knowledge of the resources to best support the scenario.

This knowledge and resources includes:

  • A highly skilled and diverse national network of disability case management specialists with bilingual capability, and enhanced skills in motivational interview techniques.
  • In-depth knowledge of medications and their therapeutic threshold levels to assist in flagging sub-optimal pharmacological management
  • Rapid access to counselling, consulting psychiatry consultation services and pharmacogenetics testing (Pillcheck)
  • Easy access to Wellness Programs, Work Ready CBT & Workplace Conflict Resolution & Return-to-Work (RTW) services
  • Workshops on Stress Management, Assertiveness, Managing workplace anxiety and more
  • Innovative solutions such as cognitive abilities evaluations and cognitive skills training programs
  • Mental Health & Accommodation Training workshops for Managers
  • Extensive metrics reporting to enable a constant eye on analysis of the data; a critical dynamic element in ensuring best in class service delivery.