TO APPLY: We will verify your eligibility, so please provide FULL NAME, your USUAL EMAIL ADDRESS, and BUSINESS PHONE NUMBER on your application.

This screened and moderated e-group enables free discussion among members of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine -- especially those who belong to the Work Fitness and Disability Section. We use this method to discuss issues pertaining to work capacity and fitness evaluation, work disability prevention and management, and to conduct Section affairs. See details below.

NOTE: All communications on this e-group are those of individual members only, and not necessarily representative of the College as a whole.

Responsibilities and Objectives of the Work Fitness and Dis/Ability Section:

1. Support the development of special expertise among ACOEM members by providing education, training, and mentoring in all aspects of impairment and work disability. This includes patient assessment and management, as well as outcomes management techniques for dis/ability prevention, mitigation, and return-to-work planning. It also includes understanding dis/ability policy and plan design, organizational dynamics, and how to work with all involved parties.

2. Provide expertise to ACOEM for communication with others about how occupational medicine physicians can assist others to assess impairment and mitigate work disability in individuals whose illness or injury has temporarily or permanently affected their ability to work, or whose fitness for a particular type of work is unclear.

3. Advocate for the inclusion of functional outcomes as a way to demonstrate the effectiveness of medical care for all specialties.

4. Advocate for the continued development and expanded use of standardized guidelines, methods and technology in order to improve the consistency, accuracy, fairness, and usefulness of physician evaluations and opinions regarding work fitness, work disability and/or impairment.