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What Industrial Categories Are Workers at Excess Risk of Filing a COVID-19 Workers’ Compensation Claim? A Study Conducted in 11 Midwestern US States

Dan L. Hunt, Edward J. Bernacki, Larry Yuspeh, Leila Williams, Nicholas F. Tsourmas, Nimisha Kalia, Nina Leung, Robert A. Lavin, Xuguang (Grant) Tao | May, 2021

Objective: Determine the industries with the highest proportion of accepted COVID-19 related workers’ compensation (WC) claims. Methods: Study included 21,336 WC claims (1898 COVID-19 and 19,438 other claims) that were filed between January 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020 from 11 states in the Midwest United States. Result: The overwhelming proportion of all COVID-19 related WC claims submitted … Read More

Prevention, Medical Management, and Adjudication of Workplace Injuries: A Thirty-Two Year Follow-up of an Integrated Workers’ Compensation Program

Edward J. Bernacki, Jill Barry, Nimisha Kalia, Robert A. Lavin, Sebastian A. Minor, Sharon Soistman, Xuguang (Grant) Tao | October, 2021

Objective: To describe the cost outcomes of an integrated workers’ compensation program. Methods: We studied a population that increased from 20K to 59K, incurring 8807 lost-time claims between 1988 and 2020. Results: Lost-time claims decreased from 22.15 to 4.32 per 1000 employees (1988 to 2020), and total closed lost-time claim costs per $100 payroll, decreased from $0.62 to … Read More

Designing Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedules, 2022

Olesya Fomenko, Te-Chun Liu | June, 2022

As policymakers seek to implement or change price controls in their state workers’ compensation system with a fee schedule, this study highlights the important design choices faced in adopting, reforming, and updating them. The construction of a medical fee schedule in workers’ compensation involves a delicate balance. Setting rates too low may make treating workers … Read More

Workers’ Compensation Elements in Different Jurisdictions in the United States

David W. McKinney, Kathryn L. Mueller, Robert C. Blink, Rupali Das, Tanisha K. Taylor, Warren Silverman | December, 2020

Over the decades, the workers’ compensation system has provided many injured workers with a significant guarantee of both medical and financial support when they have been injured on the job. To be effective, workers’ compensation systems at a minimum should include principles that require the addressing of medical causation, determination of an individual’s functional ability … Read More

Attributes of Long Duration COVID-19 Workers’ Compensation Claims

Dan L. Hunt, Edward J. Bernacki, Judith Green-McKenzie, Larry Yuspeh, Leila Williams, Nicholas F. Tsourmas, Nimisha Kalia, Nina Leung, Robert A. Lavin, Xuguang (Grant) Tao | May, 2022

Objective: To examine the attributes associated with long duration COVID- 19 workers’ compensation (WC) claims. Methods: A study was conducted on 13,153 COVID-19 WC claims accepted by a workers’ compensation insurance carrier between January 1, 2020 and November 30, 2021. Results: 1) Ninety-five percent of accepted WC claims were closed within the study period; 2) five percent of … Read More

Black Lung Program: Rising Rates, Troubled Funding

Leslie I. Boden | May, 2022

This Workers’ Compensation Issue Spotlight explains how the federal Black Lung Program provides benefits to workers with a variety of debilitating lung conditions resulting from work in coal mines. The Program is currently deeply in debt, and the proportion of miners developing black lung disease has increased over the past 25 years. This explores the forces driving increases in rates of black … Read More

Rehabilitation in Workmen’s Compensation

C. Arthur Williams, Peter S. Barth | January, 1973

The chapter examines both medical rehabilitation and vocational rehabilitation. The information on medical rehabilitation includes: (1) Services provided by insurance carriers; (2) Services provided by state agencies; (3) Evaluations of the adequacy, equity, and promptness of medical rehabilitation. The information on vocational rehabilitation includes (1) VR provided by insurance carriers; (2) VR provided by state … Read More

Medical Care Benefits

C. Arthur Williams, Peter S. Barth | January, 1973

The information on medical benefits: description of benefits include (1) limits on amount or duration of benefits; (2) the choice of the treating physician by the employer or worker; (3) regulation of medical fees, and (4) the supervision of medical care by state workers’ compensation agencies. The evaluations include brief examinations of the adequacy of … Read More

United States Workmen’s Compensation Programs: Major Characteristics

C. Arthur Williams, Peter S. Barth | January, 1973

A brief (11 page) overview of workers’ compensation, with short introductions on agencies and courts, coverage of workers and employers, compensability of injuries and diseases, cash benefits, medical benefits, insurance, costs of workers’ compensation programs and safety and health. The overview was prepared in 1972 by the staff of the National Commission on State Workmen’s … Read More