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Characterizing the relationship between in‐hospital measures and workers' compensation outcomes among severely injured construction workers using a data linkage strategy
Author(s) -
Ruestow Peter S.,
Friedman Lee S.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22212
Subject(s) - medicine , workers' compensation , compensation (psychology) , occupational safety and health , emergency medicine , injury prevention , poison control , medical emergency , psychology , pathology , psychoanalysis
Background To characterize the relationship between acute measures of severity and three important workers' compensation outcomes associated with a worker's ability to return to work and the cost of a work‐related injury. Methods Probabilistic data linkage of workers' compensation claims made by injured construction workers from 2000 to 2005 with two Illinois medical record registries. Multivariable robust regression models were built to assess the relationship between three in‐hospital measures and three outcomes captured in the Workers' Compensation data. Results In the final multivariable models, a categorical increase in injury severity was associated with an extra $7,830 (95% CI: $4,729–$10,930) of monetary compensation awarded, though not with temporary total disability (TTD) or permanent partial disability (PPD). Our models also predicted that every extra day spent in the hospital results in an increase of 0.51 (95% CI: 0.23–0.80) weeks of TTD and an extra $1,248 (95% CI: $810–$1,686) in monetary compensation. Discharge to an intermediate care facility following the initial hospitalization was associated with an increase of 8.15 (95% CI: 4.03–12.28) weeks of TTD and an increase of $23,440 (95% CI: $17,033–$29,847) in monetary compensation. Conclusions We were able to link data from the initial hospitalization for an injured worker with the final workers' compensation claims decision or settlement. The in‐hospital measures of injury severity were associated with total monetary compensation as captured in the workers' compensation process. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1149–1156, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.