Petersen Physical Therapy is a premier provider of functional capacity evaluations for disability near Tempe, Mesa, and Maricopa. If you have had this test ordered, please get in touch with one of our four East Valley offices.
We believe in advocating for both patients and employers as they seek the best match of talents and abilities.
Where to get a Functional Capacity Evaluation in Arizona?
If you’re looking for a functional capacity evaluation location near you, contact the Petersen Physical Therapy office nearest you:
Petersen currently performs Functional Capacity Evaluations for patients all over the greater Phoenix area and East Valley, and they can be performed in an afternoon.
Effective management and implementation of workplace safety and health programs add significant value to people and companies by reducing the number, severity and cost of work-related injury and illness.
Our physical therapists and occupational therapists work directly with employers and employees to identify and assess risk factors and provide injury prevention education via job site assessment and work simulation. Early recognition and treatment minimizes the chance of becoming injured and the severity of an injury should one occur.
What is a Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE)?
Functional capacity evaluations were originally developed to determine if an injured worker was physically ready to safely return to work. We now have broadened the application of this assessment.
A Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), is a series of tests/tasks to objectively measure an individual’s physical capabilities, tolerances, range of motion, etc. With injured workers, we can objectively determine a physical demand level (PDL).
This helps us safely match a client’s abilities to a job’s duties and demands. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles ranks all job’s physical demand level from sedentary to very heavy.
FCE’s are no longer used strictly for injuries sustained on the job. We can use the data collected to make safe and accurate decisions for the following situations:
- Establishing the disability status of the person.
- The compensation case settlement of the worker.
- Readiness for discharge planning, for injured workers or other major injuries.
- Ability status of the worker for vocational rehabilitation.
- Ability of the person to safely return to work.
Certified Functional Capacity Evaluations assess the degree of disability and the capacity/ability of an employee to return to work. They also assess the likelihood that an injured employee will be re-injured when they return to work. The benefit to the employee is a safe and speedy return to prior work activities. Meanwhile, the employers benefit from significant cost savings.
Rehabilitation, a benefit of the Functional Capacity Evaluation
A functional capacity evaluation allows for effective treatment to be provided to the injured employee. The therapists at Petersen Physical Therapy customize rehabilitation plans to help patients get back to their highest level of function as safely as possible.
Meanwhile, the therapists maintain communication with the patient, physician, case manager, and insurance company.
- Establish the level of safe participation and activity that is right for a patient. This helps return patients to work safely and with the best chance to avoid re-injury.
- To help resolve ongoing medical cases in a legally defensible manner.
- To help referral sources objectively answer questions regarding the patient’s ability to safely work.
- To provide objective data when trying to establish level of disability.
- To objectively quantify patient’s sincerity of effort. We use the XRTS© protocol. This is the one FCE with a statistically valid and clinically reliable method of documenting sincerity of effort. The standardized model provides the ability to make accurate clinical decisions, while protecting the patient and payer.
Businesses spend $171 billion a year on costs associated with occupational injuries and illness expenditures that come straight out of the company’s profits. It can comprise as much as five percent of a company’s total costs.
We want to help companies become proactive in their workplace safety by preventing the injury before it happens; meanwhile, supporting them with physical therapy should an incident occur.
Frequently asked questions about FCE’s
The typical FCE takes between 3-5 hours depending on the patient.
One will be involved in the following sequence of activities:
1. Medical history interview and pain questionnaires
2. A full musculoskeletal and neurological screening
3. Static strength testing
4. Specific activity tolerance testing
5. Dynamic strength testing
The payer varies depending on the patient. Insurance companies, attorneys, and sometimes the patient themselves will pay for the test.
This depends on the patient and the time it takes to administer the test. Please call us if you would like more information on costs.
Petersen Physical Therapy has been working in the area of medical disability, medical legal cases and work injuries for the past 28 years. Currently FCE testing is performed in our Tempe Location.
