CDMS (The Commission CCM & CDMS Exams) cheat sheet

Disability Management Specialist Practice

• Disability management is a coordinated, employer-based process that prevents unnecessary disability, promotes early return to work, and reduces the human and financial cost of injury and illness; its core levers are prevention, early intervention, stay-at-work/return-to-work (SAW/RTW), and case management.

• The four functional pillars of the practice are: (1) prevention and workplace health, (2) early intervention and case management, (3) return-to-work coordination and job accommodation, and (4) program measurement, reporting, and compliance.

• Case management follows a standard cycle: referral and intake, assessment (medical, functional, psychosocial, occupational), planning with measurable goals, implementation and coordination, monitoring and reassessment, and closure with outcomes documented.

• The specialist works from functional capacity, not diagnosis: restrictions and limitations (R&L) are translated into essential-function analysis, and the job match compares documented capacities against the physical, cognitive, and environmental demands of the role.

• The RTW hierarchy is transitional work first, then modified duty, then alternate duty, with full-duty release as the goal; a written offer of transitional work should specify duties, schedule, duration, and reporting expectations, and should be time-limited and reviewed.

• The team typically includes the injured or ill worker, treating clinician, supervisor, HR, union representative where applicable, insurer or claims administrator, and vocational or rehabilitation counselor; the specialist coordinates but does not diagnose or direct medical treatment.

• Confidentiality is governed by consent-based release of information: collect only the minimum necessary information, separate medical records from personnel files, and share functional restrictions rather than diagnoses with supervisors.

• Key outcome metrics include RTW rate, days to first return and to full duty, lost-time days, cost per claim, modified-duty utilization, recurrence rate, and accommodation cost versus replacement cost; benchmarking requires consistent denominators and definitions.

• Legally, the practice intersects the ADA (reasonable accommodation, interactive process, undue hardship), FMLA (12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period for covered employers), workers' compensation statutes, and privacy rules such as HIPAA for covered entities; the ADA does not require the employer to create a new position or lower production standards.