Medical care surrounding work-related back injury claims among Washington State Union Carpenters, 1989-2003

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kucera KL ; Lipscomb HJ ; Silverstein B
• Description:
  Objective: We describe medical care received through workers' compensation (WC) and union-provided insurance surrounding work-related back injuries and examine relationships between care provided and time off work among a large cohort of carpenters. Methods and Participants: Union records identified a cohort of 20,642 carpenters working in Washington State from 1989-2003 and their private health insurance claims. These data were linked to workers' compensation files from this state-run program including records of medical care. Results: Over 74,000 WC medical encounters resulted from 2959 work-related back injuries. Eleven percent received private care for musculoskeletal back pain within 90 days of work-related injury; this proportion increased with increasing lost days. Delay to physical therapy was more prevalent among those out of work longest. The proportion of claimants with care from both systems and from private utilization only increased after the first 90 days and, for the subset with at least one paid lost work day, after return to work. Conclusions: Examination of medical care through both systems versus solely in workers' compensation provides a more complete understanding of back injury care while also demonstrating complexity. Differences in outcomes based upon treatment shortly after injury are worthy of further exploration. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Biomechanical Phenomena Construction Industry Delivery Of Health Care Ergonomics Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace

  More +
• Keywords:
  Accident-statistics Author Keywords: Private Insurance Back-injuries Biomechanics Construction-industry Construction-workers Delays To Care Health-care Health-services Injuries Medical-care Medical-treatment Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Occupational-hazards Posture Return To Work Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Worker-health Workers Compensation Workplace-monitoring Workplace-studies

  More +
• ISSN:
  1051-9815
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 4 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  321-330
• Volume:
  39
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039892
• Citation:
  Work 2011 Jul; 39(3):321-330
• Contact Point Address:
  Kristen L Kucera, PhD, ATC, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Duke University, 2200 W Main St, Suite 400, Durham, NC 27705
• Email:
  kristen.kucera@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Upper Extremities
• Performing Organization:
  Duke University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040601
• Source Full Name:
  Work
• End Date:
  20081231
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5b93a671441becb7a2215e9004237578c0f36276a278c340d64628239eb58903bd1f264a50aceb0c9ccec4aaa09818506325ce0fc6d08d1f666821722be338bd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192953/cdc_192953_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 199.82 KB ]