Functional capacity evaluations: impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act and managed care

Abstract

Disability evaluations that include a functional capacity evaluation constitute an emerging trend in evaluating workers with impairments and disabilities. Forces that are driving this trend for functionally-based evaluation, rather than traditional medical evaluations, include the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, escalating health care costs and managed care initiatives in workers’ compensation, the growing emphasis on return-to-work, and pressures from the legal arena. This article reviews the concept of the disability evaluation and contrasts the more traditional medical evaluation with a more innovative evaluation focused on job-related capacity and functional abilities. As a result, physicians and medical professionals are being required to change their strategies for providing medical evaluations of workers, and employers are being required to reconsider how they utilize medical and disability information.