Denver, CO -(PRNewswire)- Reed Group, the recognized leader in managing employee absence, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), the nation’s largest association of occupational medicine physicians, recently announced that Reed Group has acquired ACOEM’s Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines.
Under the new agreement, Reed Group will publish and distribute ACOEM’s Practice Guidelines, while ACOEM will continue to provide all of the guidelines’ scientific research, content development and methodology. The acquisition will widen the distribution base for the Practice Guidelines, increasing their availability to new audiences while providing access to valuable resources that will benefit current guideline users.
A key benefit of the new partnership is the integration of Reed Group’s extensive return-to-work and absence-management strategies and resources for employers with ACOEM’s guidelines – a critically important component in the creation of healthier and more productive workplaces.
Totaling more than 2,500 evidence-based recommendations and 15,000 medical literature references, the Practice Guidelines are the industry standard for the effective treatment of occupational injuries and illnesses. Based on unambiguous, meticulous research, the Practice Guidelines are used by a wide range of customers treating workers in the insurance, medical and occupational health industries.
By integrating treatment guidelines into Reed Group’s extensive disability duration, return-to-work, and absence management guidelines, the partnership will bring enhanced value to Reed Group’s customers (insurance companies, state governments, third-party administrators, employers and physicians). The ACOEM content will be available through Reed Group’s online content platform, allowing customers access to treatment guidelines alongside its other MDGuidelines™ products.
“Reed Group is committed to being the fabric of the absence management industry,” said David Roberts, CEO of Reed Group. “We can offer customers content, software, service or a combination of these products to reduce employee absence and increase workforce productivity. ACOEM’s evidence-based Practice Guidelines are a perfect complement to our existing products and services. The announcement today demonstrates Reed Group’s continued commitment to adding products that help our customers manage all aspects of employee absence.”
“The occupational medicine community has long depended on ACOEM’s dedication to providing relevant, authoritative, evidence-based practice guidelines,” said Barry S. Eisenberg, Executive Director of ACOEM. “Partnering with Reed Group supports and extends the reach of this activity. Our extensive guidelines development process – based on quality scientific evidence, editorial independence and rigorous peer review – will continue, as will our commitment to the development of new guidelines as occupational medicine evolves and changes.”
The new publishing model will strengthen Reed Group’s MDGuidelines™, a web-based toolkit for absence management and return-to-work recommendations. ACOEM’s physician members will have the option to purchase MDGuidelines™ as a resource for understanding and implementing return-to-work and absence management strategies.
“Reed Group and ACOEM share the same mission: to build healthier employees and workplaces through more effective treatment of work-related injury and illness,” Roberts said. “Reed Group will continue to invest to offer our customers the broadest set of products and services improving employee return-to-work outcomes.”
Source: PRNewswire