It seems difficult to imagine a form of government run by scientists. That’s probably in part because there are currently no national governments that are run by scientists. But when we look at how companies and institutions are using science to successfully navigate through the constantly changing world, it might begin to make sense to see some scientists begin to take office.
Taking it one step further, maybe a computer could eventually hold office (could the president one day be a robot?). Remember this part, it will come up later.
What is a technocracy?
A technocracy is a form of government which aims for the sustainability of the populous as a whole over the special interests of parties. In this way, technocrats treat society like it is a dynamic equation to solve. A specific office will be given to the scientist deemed most educated for that position.
The concept of a technocracy contrasts styles of government that appoint/elect officials based off of their merit and how long they have spent in office.
Using the scientific method, technocrats are concerned with applying vast amounts of data to the fields of government like economics, food distribution, and national defense. By aggregating large quantities of data, a technocratic government can look at trends and use the data to their advantage when making decisions which affect the nation as a whole.
Now the part where we talk about how this all ties into workers’ compensation.
Technocracy and workers’ compensation
A workers’ comp clinic is not unlike a government. There is a hierarchical system in place that revolves around the work of the in-house physicians. The work of the doctors assistants, nurses, and office managers all rely on what happens between the doctor and patient. In a way, this puts the doctor in a pretty high office. Just because an official holds a high office, however, doesn’t always mean they’re doing a great job. In the case of workers’ comp, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the doctor’s fault.
As we’ve mentioned in a large portion of the content on this blog, the workers’ compensation system is inefficient. We might even say broken.
The reason is that the amount of data that needs to be collected for any one workers’ compensation claim is more than the doctor and the patient have time for in one meeting. Because of this, the experienced doctor makes his best guess about the injury’s range of motion, or other factors. Meanwhile, insurance companies have teams of physicians of their own who review the reports written by these doctors, and will screen the for inaccuracies. Unsurprisingly, they end up finding a lot of inaccuracies. This results in the insurer refusing to pay, and the claim dragging out.
So even if the best doctor with all of their experience has a difficult time getting their reports approved for their patient, what is the solution? Well, remember the robot president? It’s not as strange as you think.
Data crunching: It’s all in the numbers
Computers are incredibly effective at gathering and graphic data over large sample sizes. Corporations and institutions already gather large pieces of data to determine trends, in fields like marketing for example. Data driven campaigns have determined that people in the United States tend to prefer eating hamburgers when it’s over 90 degrees F outside, saving markets money because they know to reduce their stock of other meats on their shelves according to the weather forecast.
In medicine, if a huge sample size for the recovery time of shoulder injuries is taken and graphed, we have a pretty good idea of how long the ‘average’ shoulder heals based off of the most highly concentrated part of the graph. If you apply this to every patient seen by hundreds of doctors, you’ll have enough data to begin making more and more accurate predictions on injuries all over the body.
Soon, the doctor doesn’t have to be making educated guesses anymore. The computer can reliably provide information to the report using the data mentioned above. This is the concept behind RateFast’s injury mapping technology.
In the future, doctors will be able to give the measurements taken from the patient, and plug it into the software that they are using, which will give an accurate reading on the injury’s recovery. With a huge and reliable database calculating the information, the obsolete method of eyeballing will be a thing of the past. Ideally, this will cause claims to speed up because they are not being sent back by the insurer nearly as often, since the insurer sees the report as trustworthy. It’s a win-win situation between all of the stakeholders.
Conclusion
Perhaps the effectiveness of using data and the scientific method will one day lead to the world’s first technocratic government. Until then, we will see the companies and institutions who are flexible enough to implement technocratic practices into their own practices will see the benefit of using scientific method as they strive for success.
To learn more about RateFast’s injury mapping system, click here.
By the way, our service RateFast Express writes your impairment reports for you. Try RateFast Express today!