Certified Safe Farm: Evaluating Health Insurance Claims

Details

• Personal Author:
  Donham KJ
• Description:
  The Certified Safe Farm (CSF) project was developed at the University of Iowa in 1996 in order to address the high rates of fatalities, injuries, and farm-related illnesses in the agricultural population. This multi-component, voluntary program consists of an agricultural occupational health screening conducted at an AgriSafe clinic, general preventive health education and fit-testing of personal protective equipment, and an on-farm safety review. The first large study began in 1998 in NW Iowa consisting of 150 intervention farmers and was expanded in 2003 through this grant to include more participants throughout Iowa bringing the CSF population to 300 farmers. In addition to reducing illnesses, injuries, and fatalities in participating farmers, CSF was designed with built-in incentives for farmers who participate and sponsors who support the program. Because the majority of family farmers purchase individual health insurance coverage, and because they engage in a high-risk occupation, farmers often spend much of their disposable income on monthly premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses. Health insurance costs continue to increase to levels that put a strain on the financial stability of farm families, notwithstanding the effect these costs have on access to preventive care. Farmers must also pay premiums for crop insurance, property/casualty insurance, and liability coverage, to name a few. Farmers who meet specified CSF standards of health and safety receive incentives for certification, with cash incentives having been awarded in the past. One of the research questions of this project is to determine if CSF farmers experience reduced claim numbers and costs. Initial analyses show trends that favor the intervention group in areas of increased personal protective equipment use (PPE), reduced out-of-pocket costs, and a reduction in overall claims costs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Behavior Farmers Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-workers Health-surveys Occupational-health-programs Occupational-safety-programs Qualitative-analysis Questionnaires Safety-practices Safety-programs Standards Worker-health
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Final Cooperative Agreement Report
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-38
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038616
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2011-109678
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U01-OH-008110, 2008 Nov; :1-38
• Contact Point Address:
  Kelley J. Donham, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, The College of Public Health, The University of Iowa, 100 Oakdale Campus, 132 IREH, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
• Email:
  Kelley-Donham@uiowa.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20030901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20080831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:91800c544c50211d175b2c35f66ef98dc0dac761d796d56fa6a79fcc79b41fef4338e2180c1fbf18229250af969e4aa26bc3049621ad02112eb031a4e696cf09
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218417/cdc_218417_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.15 MB ]