Workers' Compensation Research

ICJ research on workers' compensation has become so pivotal that stakeholders are awaiting findings before crafting reform proposals

In 1996, the California Commission for Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation awarded the ICJ a contract to evaluate the state's Permanent Partial Disability System. This two-year project resulted in a key report describing the California workers' compensation system and calculating the wage losses experienced by workers injured on the job. It also spurred the development of the ICJ's extensive workers' compensation Research Centers.

Pursuing its goal of determining the adequacy and equity of current workers' compensation systems, the ICJ has been charged with researching a slate of issues that will help policymakers improve this important social safety net.

A distinguishing feature of the ICJ's workers' compensation program is its continuing effort to interpret and present research results to the entire workers' compensation community and to work with California's bipartisan commission to make headway on this contentious issue. ICJ staff have spent many hours attending meetings and discussing issues with stakeholders.

Featured Publications

Evaluation of California’s Permanent Disability Rating Schedule

Authors: Robert T. Reville, Seth Seabury, Frank Neuhauser

Summary: Considers changes to California's permanent partial disability system that could improve outcomes for injured workers and their employers.

Document information: MG-258-ICJ, 2005

Sponsor: California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation

Web Access: Full Document

Adopting Medicare Fee Schedules: Considerations for the California Workers' Compensation Program

Author: Barbara O. Wynn

Summary: Explores issues arising from the proposed linking of the California workers' compensation health care fee schedule to Medicare fee schedules.

Document information: MR-1776.0-ICJ, 2003

Sponsor: California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation

Web Access: Full Document

Improving Dispute Resolution for California's Injured Workers: Executive Summary

Authors: Nicholas M. Pace, Robert T. Reville, Lionel Galway, Amanda B. Geller, Orla Hayden, Laural A. Hill, Christopher Mardesich, Frank W. Neuhauser, Suzanne Polich, Jane Yeom, and Laura Zakaras

Summary: A top-to-bottom review of the California workers' compensation courts, which found that the courts' problems stem largely from severe understaffing, the failure to upgrade their management information system, and a lack of clear guidance and coordination in the governing rules and procedures.

Document information: MR-1425/1-ICJ, 2003, 34 pp. plus CD-ROM with full text of report, ISBN: 0-8330-3348-4.

Web access: Full Document

Related publications:

Improving Dispute Resolution for California's Injured Workers (Full Document)

"RAND Researchers Recommend Reform of California's Workers' Compensation Courts; Many Recommendations Being Adopted" April 2, 2003 (News Release)

Trends in Earnings Loss from Disabling Workplace Injuries in California: The Role of Economic Conditions

Authors: Robert T. Reville, Robert F. Schoeni, Craig W. Martin

Summary: Evaluates whether the downward trend in earnings losses experienced by injured workers during the 1990s be traced to the state's improved economic conditions.

Document information: MR-1457-ICJ, 2001, 46 pp., ISBN: 0-8330-3080-9.

Web access: Full Document

Related publication:

"Memo to Editors and Reporters - New RAND study on workers' compensation in California" February 8, 2002 (Press Release)

An Evaluation of New Mexico Workers' Compensation Permanent Partial Disability and Return to Work

Authors: Robert T. Reville, Leslie I. Boden, Jeffrey E. Biddle, and Christopher Mardesich

Summary: Evaluates the adequacy and equity of workers' compensation indemnity for New Mexico workers receiving permanent partial disability benefits.

Document information: MR-1414-ICJ, 2001, 90 pp., ISBN: 0-8330-3085-x.

Web access: Full Document

Permanent Partial Disability from Occupational Injuries: Earnings Losses and Replacement in Three States

Authors: Jeffrey Biddle, Leslie I. Boden, and Robert T. Reville

Summary: Compares the outcomes of workplace injuries in three states--California, Washington, and Wisconsin. The findings suggest that older workers are more likely to have permanent disabilities than their younger counterparts even though older workers have fewer workplace accidents.

Document information: RAND RP-939, 2001, 38 pp., free. Originally published in Ensuring Health and Income Security for an Aging Workforce, Eds. Peter B. Budetti et al., Kalamazoo Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research 2001, pp. 249-272.

Web access: Ordering Information

New Methods and Data Sources for Measuring Economic Consequences of Workplace Injuries

Authors: Robert T. Reville, Jay Bhattacharya, Lauren R. Sager Weinstein

Summary: The evaluation of programs and policies to reduce the incidence of workplace injuries requires that the consequences of those injuries are estimated correctly. In this article, the authors review the literature on the consequences of workplace injuries for both workers and employers.

Document information: RAND RP-972, 2001, 12 pp., free. Originally published in American journal of industrial medicine, v. 40, no. 4, Oct. 2001.

Web access: Ordering Information

Permanent Disability at Private, Self-Insured Firms: A Study of Earnings Loss, Replacement, and Return to Work for Workers' Compensation Claimants

Authors: Robert T. Reville, Suzanne Polich, Seth Seabury, Elizabeth Giddens

Sponsor: California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation

Summary: Analyzes and evaluates the wage losses, replacement benefits, and return to work of workers' compensation claimants at self-insured firms in California.

Document information: MR-1268-ICJ, 2000, 99 pp., ISBN: 0-8330-2924-X

Web access: Full Document

Related publication:

Workers' Compensation Outcomes Differ Little at Self-Insured and Insured Firms: Raising Questions About Adequacy and Equity of Benefits, RB-9035 (Research Brief)

The Impact of a Disabling Workplace Injury on Earnings and Labor Force Participation

Author: Robert T. Reville

Summary: Estimates both the lost earnings of permanent partial disability claimants in California over the first five years following the injury and the proportion replaced by workers' compensation indemnity benefits.

Document information: RAND RP-921, 2001, 26 pp., free. Originally published in The Creation and Analysis of Employer-Employee Matched Data, Eds. John C. Haltiwanger et al. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science B.V., 1999, pp. 147-172.

Web access: Ordering Information

Compensating Permanent Workplace Injuries: A Study of the California System

Authors: Mark A. Peterson, Robert T. Reville, Rachel Kaganoff Stern, Peter S. Barth

Summary: Evaluates the workers' compensation system by examining its efficiency and the adequacy and equity of its benefits, and suggests system reforms.

Document information: MR-920-ICJ, 1998, 228 pp., ISBN: 0-8330-2577-5. v

Sponsor: California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation

Web access: Full Document

Related publications:

Compensating Permanent Workplace Injuries: A Study of the California System RB-9029, 1998 (Research Brief)

"RAND Issues Study of California Workers' Compensation System; Finds Wage Losses Larger, Compensation Lower Than Expected" October 31, 1997 (Press Release)

Findings and Recommendations on California's Permanent Partial Disability System: Executive Summary, MR-919-ICJ (Full Document)

Lifetime Costs and Compensation for Injuries

Authors: M. Susan Marquis and Willard G. Manning.

Summary: Little is known about how well individuals are compensated for injuries. This study uses data from a 1989 survey to estimate both the lifetime costs and compensation for injuries.

Document Information: Originally published in: Inquiry, v. 36, no. 3, Fall 1999.

Web Access: Ordering Information

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