Traumatic Injury Hospitalizations Among Louisiana Workers, 2006–2014: Results of a Severity Threshold Analysis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lackovic M ; Lewis J ; Reilly A ; Sears J
• Description:
  Work-related injuries are costly to employers, employees, and society. As many injured workers are employed in physically demanding occupations such as construction, a severe injury can negatively impact and, at times, completely impair an injured worker's future ability to work. In addition to these high human costs, economists estimate that the United States' economy loses $192 billion annually as a result of injuries in the work place, including direct payments for medical workers' compensation (WC) and other insurance costs as well as indirect costs, such as lost wages and productivity. State-level surveillance can improve workplace safety and worker health via the identification of high-risk industries and occupations and the development of educational and prevention programs and policies. Louisiana is one of 25 states that annually calculates a set of occupational health indicators (OHIs) developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists' (CSTE) Occupational Health Surveillance Work Group. Similar to other states, Louisiana has observed an ongoing decline in the rate of work-related hospitalizations. However, recent analysis reveals that the hospitalization rate for work-related severe traumatic injuries has, in many cases, remained unchanged. This finding has important implications for worker safety and the prevention of severe injuries, such as spinal cord and intracranial injuries that can result in death or lifelong disability and pain. There are several potential reasons for the observed decrease in work-related hospitalizations including the treatment of injuries on an outpatient basis that several years ago would have been admitted to the hospital for treatment, constriction of WC coverage due to introduction of laws or regulations that reduce benefits or make it more difficult for those with certain injuries to qualify for benefits, and the increased use of contingent workers who may not receive WC coverage. Together these changes may result in a downward trend in observed hospitalizations, particularly since WC as payer is typically used to identify occupational injuries in hospital discharge data. However, observed decreases in hospitalization rates may not necessarily correlate with a decreased incidence of worker injuries. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Occupational Health Public Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Costs Public Health Surveillance Traumatic Injuries Worker Health Worker Safety Workers Compensation
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Newsletter
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  2-3
• Volume:
  27
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066223
• Citation:
  LA Morbid Rep 2016 Jan-Feb; 27(1):2-3
• Email:
  michelle.lackovic@la.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Louisiana State Office of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20150720
• Source Full Name:
  Louisiana Morbidity Report
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:27397c10a0ad09e6a1766197348b8d187b16bc18d9d9e32fd0d30a7a0066b64a6c6444ddc77fe6fbe5422fdcf8cb1f216dca755df11c32fd57a20fc3c48de219
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212713/cdc_212713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 359.27 KB ]