scholarly journals The Relationship Between Work-Disability Duration and Claimant’s Expected Time to Return to Work as Recorded by Workers’ Compensation Claims Managers

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda E. Young ◽  
Elyssa Besen ◽  
Joanna Willetts
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Work Disability ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Expected Time ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
The Relationship

scholarly journals Differences in Work Disability Duration for Immigrants and Canadian-Born Workers in British Columbia, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11794
Author(s):  
Sonja Senthanar ◽  
Mieke Koehoorn ◽  
Lillian Tamburic ◽  
Stephanie Premji ◽  
Ute Bültmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Work Disability ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Disability Benefits ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Fracture Cohort ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to investigate differences in work disability duration among immigrants (categorized as economic, family member or refugee/other classification upon arrival to Canada) compared to Canadian-born workers with a work-related injury in British Columbia. Immigrants and Canadian-born workers were identified from linked immigration records with workers’ compensation claims for work-related back strain, connective tissue, concussion and fracture injuries requiring at least one paid day of work disability benefits between 2009 to 2015. Quantile regression investigated the relationship between immigration classification and predicted work disability days (defined from injury date to end of compensation claim, up to 365 days) and modeled at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile of the distribution of the disability days. With a few exceptions, immigrants experienced greater predicted disability days compared to Canadian-born workers within the same injury cohort. The largest differences were observed for family and refugee/other immigrant classification workers, and, in particular, for women within these classifications, compared to Canadian-born workers. For example, at the 50th percentile of the distribution of disability days, we observed a difference of 34.1 days longer for refugee/other women in the concussion cohort and a difference of 27.5 days longer for family classification women in the fracture cohort. Economic immigrants had comparable disability days with Canadian-born workers, especially at the 25th and 50th percentiles of the distribution. Immigrant workers’ longer disability durations may be a result of more severe injuries or challenges navigating the workers’ compensation system with delays in seeking disability benefits and rehabilitation services. Differences by immigrant classification speak to vulnerabilities or inequities upon arrival in Canada that persist after entry to the workforce and warrant further investigation for early mitigation strategies.

scholarly journals The Impact of Provider Choice on Workers' Compensation Costs and Outcomes

ILR Review ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Neumark ◽  
Peter S. Barth ◽  
Richard A. Victor
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Work Outcomes ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Provider Choice ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Recent Policy ◽  
Physical Recovery ◽  
Prior Relationship

Using survey data collected in 2002 and 2003 in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas on workers injured 3 to 3.5 years earlier, coupled with information on the associated workers' compensation claims from the Workers Compensation Research Institute, the authors examine how provider choice in workers' compensation is related to costs and to workers' outcomes. They find that employee choice of the provider, by comparison with employer choice, was associated with higher costs and worse return-to-work outcomes. Although the same rate of physical recovery was found for both groups, workers who chose their providers reported higher satisfaction with medical care. The higher costs and worse return-to-work outcomes associated with employee choice arose largely when employees selected a new provider, rather than a provider with whom they had a pre-existing relationship. The findings lend some support to recent policy changes limiting workers' ability to choose a provider with whom they do not have a prior relationship.

scholarly journals Collider bias in administrative workers’ compensation claims data: A challenge for cross-jurisdictional research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J Lane
Keyword(s):  
Work Disability ◽  
Claims Data ◽  
Occupational Injuries ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Compensation Systems ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
Analytical Approaches ◽  
Collider Bias ◽  
State Territory

Abstract Purpose Workers’ compensation claims consist of occupational injuries severe enough to meet a compensability threshold. Theoretically, systems with higher thresholds should have fewer claims but greater average severity. For research that relies on claims data, particularly cross-jurisdictional comparisons of compensation systems, this results in collider bias that can lead to spurious associations and confound analyses. In this study, I use real and simulated claims data to demonstrate collider bias and problems with methods used to account for it. Methods Using Australian claims data, I used a linear regression to test the association between claim rate and mean disability durations across Statistical Areas. Analyses were repeated with nesting by state/territory to account for variations in compensability thresholds across compensation systems. Both analyses are repeated on left-censored data. Simulated claims data are analysed with Cox survival analyses to illustrate how left-censoring can reverse effects.Results The claim rate within a Statistical Area was inversely associated with disability duration. However, this reversed when Statistical Areas were nested by state/territory. Left-censoring resulted in an attenuation of the unnested association to non-significance, while the nested association remained significantly positive. Cox regressions on simulated data showed left-censoring can also reverse effects. Conclusions Collider bias can seriously confound work disability research, particularly cross-jurisdictional comparisons. Work disability researchers must grapple with this challenge by using appropriate study designs and analytical approaches, and considering how collider bias affects interpretation of results.

scholarly journals Data linkage to build detailed return-to-work trajectories for work disability research

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Maas ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Mieke Koehoorn ◽  
Chris McLeod
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Return To Work ◽  
Work Disability ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Injured Workers ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Prescription Data ◽  
Cost Benefits ◽  
The Cost

IntroductionMusculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most prevalent chronic condition in Canada, and account for the highest disability costs. Gradual-return-to-work (GRTW) can improve health and labour market outcomes in an aging workforce at risk of MSDs. Linked longitudinal data enables us to generate evidence of GRTW to inform policy needs. Objectives and ApproachThe objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and cost-benefits of GRTW for workers with a work-acquired MSD in British Columbia, Canada. We linked workers’ compensation data, health services data, and prescription data from three governing bodies to 1) identify injured workers with an accepted MSD lost-time injury between 2010 and 2015; 2) identify trajectories of RTW states (injury, sickness absence, GRTW, RTW, and non-RTW) and the probability of transitioning between states; and 3) assess the association between workers characteristics and RTW trajectories, and analyze the cost-benefits of GRTW. ResultsFinal results are expected early 2019. To our knowledge, this will be the first study linking workers’ compensation data (in particular detailed RTW data), health services data and prescription data from three different governing bodies for a comprehensive, population-based investigation of work disability experiences over a longitudinal time period and within the Canadian context. Also, using this data for the purpose of assessing the cost-benefits is new, and will help to prioritize prevention resources and strategies to limit the health and economic impact of work-related MSDs on employers, workers’ compensation boards and society. Conclusion/ImplicationsEvaluating the effects of GRTW on work disability is essential to maximize the health and economic benefits for injured workers. The innovation of this project is that is links three population-based databases to capture multiple indicators of health and work status to build RTW trajectories over time.

scholarly journals O2C.3 What predicts a secondary absence following return to work among workers’ compensation claimants in victoria? Results from a longitudinal cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A16.2-A16
Author(s):  
Peter Smith
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Longitudinal Cohort ◽  
Injury Type ◽  
Work Limitations ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
Absence From Work ◽  
Type Of Injury

Time taken to first return to work (RTW) is often a primary endpoint for studies among injured workers. However, studies using administrative workers’ compensation claims data have documented that a substantial proportion (approximately one half) of claimants will incur a subsequent period of wage replacement. Unfortunately, workers’ compensation data is limited in the information collected to better understand which claimants are more likely to have a subsequent absence from work. The objective of this study is to address this gap using a cohort of workers’ compensation claimants in the Australian state of Victoria.The sample for this study is drawn from a longitudinal cohort of workers’ compensation claimants (n=869). For the purpose of this analysis we focused on those claimants who had returned to work (self-reported) at the baseline interview, which was conducted approximately 4 months after the injury had occurred (n=372). Independent variables examined included if the respondent was working on full or partial duties, currently receiving health care for their injury, type of injury (musculoskeletal versus psychological), co-worker responses when they returned to work (measured using nine questions), and work limitations, measured using an abbreviated form of the work limitations questionnaire.A total of 205 respondents (55% of the sample) reported a subsequent absence from work when interviewed 6 months later. All independent variables, with the exception of injury type, were associated with subsequent absences from work. In a multivariable model, only working modified duties and greater limitations remained statistically significant.The results of the current study help inform our understanding of trajectories in RTW and factors, measured after the first RTW, which may be associated with a subsequent absence from work. These findings can be integrated into RTW programs to help more workers achieve sustainable RTW following a work injury.

Managing Work Disability: Why First Return to Work is Not a Measure of Success

ILR Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Butler ◽  
William G. Johnson ◽  
Marjorie L. Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Vocational Rehabilitation ◽  
Work Disability ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
Rate Of Success

Studies of the effectiveness of medical and vocational rehabilitation and the disincentive effects of workers' compensation benefits frequently assume that a return to work signals the end of the limiting effects of injuries. This study is the first to test that assumption empirically. The authors use a rich data set on Ontario workers with permanent partial impairments resulting from injuries that occurred between 1974 and 1987 to show that the effects of injuries on employment are more enduring than previous studies indicate. The rate of successful returns to employment, measured by first return to work, is 85%, but the rate of success evaluated over a longer time period is only 50%.

scholarly journals Impact of legislative reform on benefit access and disability duration in workers’ compensation: an interrupted time series study

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39
Author(s):  
Alex Collie ◽  
Dianne Beck ◽  
Shannon Elise Gray ◽  
Tyler Jeremiah Lane
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Work Disability ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Compensation Scheme ◽  
Legislative Reform ◽  
Time Series Study ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
Series Study

ObjectivesTo determine the impact of legislative changes to the New South Wales (NSW) workers’ compensation scheme on injured workers access to benefits, insurer claim processing and work disability duration.MethodsPopulation-based interrupted time series study of workers’ compensation claims made in NSW 2 years before and after legislative amendment in June 2012. Outcomes included incidence of accepted claims per 100 000 workers, the median and 75th percentile insurer decision time in days, and the median and 75th percentile of work disability duration in weeks. Effects were assessed relative to a comparator of seven other Australian workers’ compensation jurisdictions.Resultsn=1 069 231 accepted workers’ compensation claims were analysed. Claiming in NSW fell 15.3% following legislative reform, equivalent to 46.6 fewer claims per 100 000 covered workers per month. This effect was greater in time loss claims (17.3%) than medical-only claims (10.3%). Across models, there were consistent trend increases in insurer decision time. Median work disability duration increased following the legislative reform.ConclusionsThe observed reduction in access to benefits was consistent with the policy objective of improving the financial sustainability of the compensation scheme. However, this was accompanied by changes in other markers of performance that were unintended, and are suggestive of adverse health consequences of the reform. This study demonstrates the need for care in reform of workers’ compensation scheme policy.

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