Who is Roy Matheson?
Posted on Tue, Dec 20, 2011 @ 01:24 PM
My university training is in accounting. My service to the country was the U.S. Coast Guard. My extended training is in Method-Time Measurement, a very high level method of task analysis. My involvement with occupational rehabilitation began in about 1980, seated at the feet of my older brother, Dr. Leonard Matheson. In 1983 or so, I joined his practice at the Employment and Rehabilitation Institute of California (ERIC), the first Work Capacity Evaluation clinic in the U.S. (FCE at the point was called Work Tolerance Screening). WCE was an 8 to 10 day evaluation of a person's work ability. WTS was a one day assessment of their physical abilities and level of effort.
Since those early days, I have branched out on my own. For years, my main interest was in gathering experts to teach courses in what was then called "industrial rehabilitation". About 15 years ago, we added ergonomic evaluation to the mix. Approximately 10 years ago, I got interested in MTM as I could not understand how a time standard process could predict human performance (work capacity). I have an on-going interest in all things related to job analysis.
My most recent interest is in the area of federal law affecting work evaluation. I see the current activity in the Courts as being the first real change in the practice of rehabilitation in the last 20 years. And I think it really is the only change; other than people selling "new ideas" there is not much new in terms of evaluation technique.
My next few years is focused on a couple of ideas: disengaging impairment from disability and building a bridge between human resource, case management and physicians in the area of work evaluation within the parameters of the ADAAA. This latter issue will bring the demise of several of the FCE systems and dramatically change how physicians work with injured workers. Five years from now we won't recognize what we have today...what about 7 or 8 years down the road?
Share your thoughts regarding the changes happening in the field! What are your predictions for the future?
Stay in touch with us on: