The Fee Schedule Nobody Touched Since 2019
The medical director at a mid-sized occ med program in the South had been running the same fee schedule for four years. Not because anyone decided to hold prices flat — just because repricing 30 service lines against a moving market is the kind of project that never quite makes the top of the list. The DOT physical was priced at $90. Felt about right. Everybody around them seemed to be in that neighborhood.
FeeAtlas put the benchmark at $107 for that market. At 1,500 DOT physicals a year, that one line item was a $25,500 annual gap. The pre-employment physical was another $13,000. Two drug screen codes together were another $9,000. Total annual opportunity across 12 underpriced services: just under $59,000 — invisible on every P&L, recoverable with a single repricing conversation.
The report took ten minutes to run. The fee schedule update took a Tuesday afternoon.
FeeAtlas benchmarks your fees for the 30 most common occ health services against NAOHP's national reference prices, adjusted to your state or metro. One report. Every gap. The dollar figure is attached to your actual volumes — not a percentage, not a range, a number.
→ Get your benchmark report at FeeAtlas — Snapshot report $149 · Full Benchmark Report $359. Most programs surface their fee in the first three rows.
You've been pricing in the dark. Your competitors are too. FeeAtlas turns the lights on.
Members get 20% off, get your coupon code here in the library
The NP Who Left. The One Who Almost Did.
A program director at a health system-based occ med program in the Midwest lost a nurse practitioner last spring. Good clinician, three years in, owned the DOT physical workflow cold. Exit interview was short: she'd been offered $18,000 more at a competing urgent care network. The director assumed they were competitive — they were within range of what the health system's general NP band paid. What they didn't know was that occ health NPs were benchmarking $14,000 above that band in their metro.
Six months later, a second NP flagged the same issue before accepting a counteroffer. This time the director had data. The NAOHP Staff Comp Benchmark showed the role was sitting $13,600 below the local market median — 11% under. They corrected it. The NP stayed.
The Staff Comp Benchmark covers nine core occ health roles — Medical Director, Staff Physician, NP, PA, Exec/VP/Program Director, Regional and Single-Site Clinical Managers, Case Manager, Medical Assistant, and Sales Professional — placed against the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile for your state or metro. You see exactly where each role lands and the dollar gap to the median. It also includes a sales incentive plan designer for modeling base/variable splits and commission structures.
The benchmarks are built from occ health programs specifically, not a broad healthcare wage pool that dilutes the comparison. An NP in an occ health program has a different market than an NP in primary care. The tool accounts for that.
→ Run the Staff Comp Benchmark — $259 one-time · $199 for NAOHP members.
— Larry
🎓 Build the Provider Side of the Stack
The core provider actions, the Dashboard domains, and the clinical decision standards behind them are the curriculum of the OccMed Providers Course — and the working agenda of the twice-monthly Provider Office Hours.
If your providers are the ones making the calls that drive your employer outcomes, this is the program built for them.
New Vendor Member Spotlight: Data Dimensions
Data Dimensions helps healthcare providers reduce administrative burden and streamline document-driven workflows without disrupting patient care.
Trusted by thousands of providers nationwide, our HIPAA-compliant solutions integrate
seamlessly to improve efficiency, accuracy, and visibility across clinical and
administrative operations.
Our offerings include:
Providerflow TM , a secure digital fax and document workflow solution that
streamlines inbound and outbound clinical communication by replacing
paper-based processes with automated, EHR-connected workflowsEDI Clearinghouse, with a robust network of over 4,500 electronic payor
connections and real-time eligibility verification, claims
get submitted quickly and accurately so you get paid fast.
Together, these scalable tools save clinical and administrative teams time
managing documents, accelerate reimbursement, and allow for more time
focused on patient care.
📚 Member Library
Practice Briefs, surveillance program design, DOT compliance resources, and the full quality measurement framework live in the NAOHP Member Library.
🫂 2026 conference plans 👉 Submit Your Conference Preferences Here Now
What we’re hearing so far: Hundreds of providers have been going through our Occmed for Providers course, loved it so much now they’re asking for more advanced training - if this is you too, let us know in the preferences above or just respond here and “yes I want to learn more about [firefighter exams | joint injections | ultrasound | ???]
And a lot more interest on data, analytics, AI to make informed decisions.
Purpose Built Occupational Health EMR
🗓 Upcoming Events
Virtual Ortho
Tomorrow we're sitting down with Dr. Jay Kimmel — one of the clinical architects of the program — to talk through how it works in practice and what it takes to stand it up.
If you've been curious but haven't pulled the trigger on a conversation, this is a low-pressure way to get your questions answered directly.
Join us tomorrow — Jun 2, 1:30 pacific
This is a regular google meet, if you’d like me to send you an invite, just reply to the email version of this newsletter or [email protected]
Becoming a Safety Leader in Healthcare
The Expanding Role of the Nurse in Health Care Safety
Goal: Master the evolving intersection of occupational health and safety leadership.
Key Topics:
• Shifting expectations of OHNs: from clinical care to system safety oversight.
• Understanding the dual lens of employee and patient safety.
• Introduction to Total Worker Health® principles in hospital settings.
• The business case for nurse-led safety programs (ROI, risk reduction, engagement).
Target Audience:
Registered Nurses, Occupational Health Nurses, and Employee Health professionals transitioning into or expanding safety leadership roles in healthcare systems.
Free Intro Class:
Speaker: Shanna Dunbar
The first cohort for the full course is coming this fall.
Recent Events:
🏭 Occupational Health Industry News & Signals
FMCSA Paper Med Card Exemption Runs Out October 11 — No More Extensions Expected
Five states — Alaska, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, and New Hampshire — still haven't implemented FMCSA's National Registry II digital medical certification system. To protect compliant drivers and employers, FMCSA issued a six-month exemption on April 11 allowing motor carriers and drivers in all states to rely on a paper copy of the medical examiner's certificate for up to 60 days after issuance. That exemption expires October 11, 2026. FMCSA has stated it does not anticipate granting additional nationwide waivers after that date.
For occupational health programs doing DOT physicals, the message to employer clients is straightforward: the paper med card is going away as a compliance document. MVR is the sole authoritative source of CDL driver medical certification status. Employers who haven't shifted their driver qualification file process to MVR-based verification are running out of runway. CMEs in those five states face the most operational exposure and should be monitoring FMCSA's NRII Learning Center for state-level implementation updates.
What this means for your program: Fleet clients need to hear this now, not in September. It's also a concrete reason to route drivers back to your program for DOT physicals rather than letting them drift to a walk-in they find on Google — your CMEs are already in the National Registry. Source: FMCSA, April 2026 Exemption Order
→ Questions about DOT physical workflow under NRII? NAOHP members can also access the new Practice Brief — FMCSA NRII: What Certified Medical Examiners Need to Know Now — in the member library.
OSHA HazCom GHS Revision 7 — Employer Deadline Is November 20
OSHA's revised Hazard Communication Standard, aligning with GHS Revision 7, has been phasing in since mid-2024. The deadline most employer clients haven't acted on yet is November 20, 2026 — by which point they must have updated workplace chemical labeling, their written HazCom program, and employee training for any substances with changed GHS Rev. 7 hazard classifications. OSHA extended the original July 2026 employer deadline by four months in January but has not indicated any further extensions are coming.
The gap between what most employers have on file and what the standard now requires is real. Many haven't touched their written HazCom program since 2012. GHS Rev. 7 added or refined classification criteria for reproductive toxicants and respiratory/skin sensitizers — categories directly relevant to the occupational health intake process. For OHPs advising manufacturing, construction, automotive, or chemical-using employer clients, a HazCom gap review is a straightforward, billable service that maps directly onto existing employer relationships.
What this means for your program: Five months is enough time to do this right with key accounts. An OHP-led review covers the SDS library, written program, and training documentation — three things OSHA routinely cites and most employers haven't looked at since the last inspection. Source: OSHA Federal Register, Jan. 15, 2026
→ For a structured approach to advising employer clients on HazCom compliance, see the new Practice Brief — HazCom GHS Rev. 7: What Occupational Health Programs Need to Tell Employer Clients — in the NAOHP member library. Post questions to OccNation.
OSHA Heat NEP State Plan Deadline: This Week
State plans have until June 9 — this week — to submit their notice of intent to federal OSHA on the revised Heat National Emphasis Program that took effect April 10. States must indicate whether they already have a comparable policy, intend to adopt the new NEP, or do not intend to adopt it. Heat Safety Awareness Week is running concurrently, and OSHA enforcement under the NEP is active now — inspections can be triggered on any day NOAA issues a heat advisory or warning, no incident required.
For occupational health programs with employer clients in the 55 targeted industries, summer is the operational window where heat program documentation either holds up or doesn't. Programs should be checking in with accounts in construction, agriculture, warehousing, food processing, and outdoor utilities.
What this means for your program: If your employer clients haven't reviewed their heat illness prevention programs against the six required elements — written program with WBGT-based action thresholds, acclimatization protocols, water/rest/shade access, training, emergency response, and recordkeeping — the window to fix gaps before an inspection is shrinking. Source: OSHA Heat NEP CPL 03-00-024, April 10, 2026
→ The NAOHP Program Design Series brief on 2026 Heat NEP compliance is available in the member library.