The physicians and other providers at Mid-Maryland Musculoskeletal Institute Care Center (MMI) are actively involved in the treatment and evaluation of injured workers, offering a variety of services for patients, employers, case managers and insurers. MMI has recently increased its Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE) by reviewing cases with treating providers to determine when a FCE would be beneficial, rather than waiting for an insurer or employer to order it.   

Often employers and insurers order a FCE as a last resort but, according to Dr. Michael Gibson, who performs FCEs at MMI and is actively working with physicians and therapists to review the status of their patients, “the major difference between workers' compensation and group health insurance is that in workers' comp, our goal is to return the patient to work. As such our primary focus should be functional outcomes. FCE results can dictate the need to get the injured worker into a work conditioning or work hardening program. Either of these approaches can get the injured worker back in gear at a quicker pace.”

MMI administers FCEs with evaluation tools and methods that are validity-based and legally defensible in the field of occupational rehabilitation. MMI has two providers, Beverly Kornides, PT, who performs FCEs at the Hagerstown location, and Michael Gibson, DC, who does FCEs in Frederick and Urbana.