Philly controller says rehab costs too high [video]

Philadelphia’s controller says the city isn’t doing enough to cut the costs of worker’s compensation claims.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz says he believes Philadelphia could save millions of dollars if it cracked down on worker’s compensation cases. He says physical therapy by injured workers is ripe for abuse.

“In 49 of the 165 open claims that we tested, we found employees making 30 or more visits to physical therapy, which spanned up to 15 months beyond the date of the injury,” he said. “This is well beyond the average three-month standard regimen after which a physical therapist will release a patient from physical therapy.”

Butkovitz says if employees legitimately are being injured multiple times on the job, retraining might help.

“There were 386 employees who filed three or more claims and 2,203 employees who filed five to 10 claims during their respective employment,” he said. “There were also four employees who had two claims open simultaneously.”

In response to the audit, city officials say they are doing the best to deal with worker’s compensation issues.