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Workers' compensation: Poor quality health care and the growing disability problem in the United States
Author(s) -
Franklin Gary M.,
Wickizer Thomas M.,
Coe Norma B.,
FultonKehoe Deborah
Publication year - 2015
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.22399
Subject(s) - medicine , workforce , workers' compensation , safety net , compensation (psychology) , health care , occupational safety and health , environmental health , gerontology , economic growth , psychology , pathology , psychoanalysis , economics
The proportion of working age citizens permanently removed from the workforce has dramatically increased over the past 30 years, straining both Federal and State disability systems designed as a safety net to protect them. Almost one‐third of these rapidly emerging disabilities are related to musculoskeletal disorders, and three of the top five diagnoses associated with the longest Years Lived with Disability are back, neck and other musculoskeletal disorders. The failure of Federal and state workers' compensation systems to provide effective health care to treat non‐catastrophic injuries has been largely overlooked as a principal source of permanent disablement and corresponding reduced labor force participation. Innovations in workers' compensation health care delivery, and in use of evidence‐based coverage methods such as prospective utilization review, are effective secondary prevention efforts that, if more widely adopted, could substantially prevent avoidable disability and provide more financial stability for disability safety net programs. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:245–251, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.