Work-related injury once seemed unlikely for those trained to prevent it. Yet in 2025, physiatrists, the physicians who restore function after illness or trauma, are becoming case studies in occupational risk. Rising evidence of long-term strain and burnout among rehabilitation doctors is beginning to alter disability-insurance underwriting across the medical field.

More than nine in ten rehabilitation specialists experience recurring neck or shoulder pain from repetitive motion and patient transfers, according to a 2025 study in Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences. “Prolonged static postures, repetitive movements, and awkward body positions during patient care are the primary risk factors for developing musculoskeletal disorders,” wrote Dr. Erica Kholinne and colleagues. The finding has moved insurers to re-evaluate how they classify risk inside hospital systems and private practices alike.

But physical strain tells only part of the story. Behind the new math is a broader shift in how carriers interpret the boundaries between physical injury, mental health, and fatigue—a recalibration with financial consequences for every specialty that blends cognitive and manual work.

Insurers Tighten Risk Models as Claims Stay Elevated

Average disability claims are lasting longer than before the pandemic, extending insurers’ exposure and signaling slower recoveries across major health categories. The share of claimants exiting disability benefits dropped from 9 percent in 2019 to 7.4 percent in 2023, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which links the decline to prolonged recovery times and higher rates of long-term incapacity.

Within rehabilitation medicine, recovery timelines have also lengthened. Patients with musculoskeletal disorders are returning to work more slowly than in pre-pandemic years, a pattern attributed to cumulative ergonomic strain and post-viral fatigue.

For physiatrists—whose practice blends procedural tasks with continuous patient interaction—this trend has direct financial implications. Carriers now incorporate ergonomic exposure and cognitive-stress variables into occupational-risk scoring. The adjustments aim to capture real-world workload—but they also push premiums higher for new applicants seeking comprehensive “own-occupation” protection, which pays benefits when a physician cannot perform their specialty duties.

Hybrid Medical Roles Challenge Traditional Underwriting

Physiatrists today operate in hybrid roles—equal parts clinician, diagnostician, and therapist—making them difficult to categorize under older underwriting rules. That ambiguity is driving a quiet redefinition of disability itself.

Redefining Risk in the Age of Hybrid Medical Work

Hybrid-risk modeling now draws on ergonomic studies, procedure counts, and clinician-wellness data gathered through hospital surveys. Analysts say this marks a philosophical shift: repetitive strain and burnout are no longer viewed as personal health issues but as quantifiable business exposures. For insurers, the result is a more granular approach to pricing that treats occupational well-being as an economic variable.

This re-engineering of risk categories is reshaping not only premiums but also how physicians think about prevention—blurring the line between medical ergonomics and financial planning.

Burnout Expands What Counts as Disability

Emotional exhaustion has become a parallel threat. Nearly one in five physicians reported frequent burnout symptoms in 2025, up from 13 percent three years earlier, according to the American Medical Association’s National Physician Burnout Survey. The trend is prompting insurers to broaden claim definitions beyond orthopedic or neurological impairment.

Policies that once covered only physical injury now include long COVID, chronic pain, and psychiatric fatigue—conditions that can remove rehabilitation specialists from practice for months at a time. As definitions widen, underwriting follows: the mental toll of care is being priced into the cost of protection.

Those expanding definitions are also changing where many physicians first obtain coverage.

Hospitals Expand Group Plans to Stabilize Costs

Hospitals and teaching institutions are renewing interest in group and institutional disability plans that pool risk and standardize rates. These collective agreements often provide unisex pricing—removing gender-based premium gaps—and simplified underwriting for early-career physicians.

Global market data from OECD confirm that group-policy participation among healthcare professionals has climbed since 2022, part of a wider trend toward employer-facilitated insurance coverage. For physiatrists, those arrangements offer temporary shelter from inflationary pressures that continue to ripple through private contracts.

Disability Insurance for Physicians Explained – Data-driven underwriting shifts how physiatrists secure career-long protection [VIDEO]

 

Data-Driven Pricing Reshapes Policy Design

Across the global market, long-duration disability claims—those extending beyond two years—are taking up an increasingly large share of insurer liabilities, reflecting the rise of chronic conditions and extended recovery periods. As payout durations lengthen, carriers are shifting from static pricing to dynamic models that adjust based on real-time occupational and health-risk data.

“Insurers [are embracing] the digital future by leveraging the power of digital technologies, data and responsible AI for product offerings, pricing and customer engagement,” PwC observed.

Together, these shifts suggest a future where disability-insurance pricing may vary not only by medical specialty but by how physically intensive that specialty’s daily tasks are. Rehabilitation physicians whose work involves patient transfers or physical assessments could face higher rates than peers practicing electrodiagnostic medicine, where physical strain is lower.

Premiums Rise, but Stabilization May Be Near

Disability-insurance costs for healthcare professionals climbed 4.8 percent in 2024, outpacing overall wage growth, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Cost Index. Analysts expect rate growth to slow by mid-2025 as inflation cools, but higher occupational-risk ratings are likely to persist.

Younger physiatrists have responded by applying for coverage during residency or fellowship, when rates are lower and eligibility criteria less restrictive. Group coverage provides near-term affordability but caps benefits, while individually owned contracts offer portability and lifetime rate guarantees. For specialists evaluating policy options, comparing plans under disability insurance for physicians can clarify how occupation-specific definitions and riders affect long-term protection.

That combination—collective stability early, personal flexibility later—is becoming the new standard across medical professions seeking income protection.

The Broader Picture: When the Healers Need Safeguarding

The evolving definition of disability underscores a wider economic truth: in medicine, physical and psychological endurance are inseparable from financial security. As insurers feed occupational data into predictive models, the line between workplace safety and actuarial science continues to narrow.

For physiatrists—who devote their careers to restoring function—the emerging insurance calculus offers a sobering symmetry. The profession built to keep others moving is now redefining how modern economies insure the ability to work.