REPORT
Testimony presented before the California State Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on May 9, 2012.
NEWS RELEASE
States with low nonfatal injury rates and high fatality rates tend to be in the South, have lower workers' compensation benefits, be less unionized, and pay lower wages—while states with high nonfatal injury rates and lower fatality rates tend to be in the West, pay higher benefits and wages, be more strongly unionized, and carry out more workplace inspections.
REPORT
When enacting, implementing, and evaluating health care reform, policymakers should consider potential spillover effects on workers' compensation insurance. The experience of Massachusetts's heath care reform suggests that reform may reduce medical costs.
REPORT
Though consistency in applying disability assessment criteria is intended, it is not easily achieved in practice. For many SSDI applicants, whether they are allowed or denied benefits depends upon the examiner to which their application is assigned.
NEWS RELEASE
The first evaluation of the California Injury and Illness Prevention Program found evidence that it reduces workplace injuries, but only at businesses that had been cited for not addressing the regulation's more-specific safety mandates. Higher penalties could enhance compliance but having inspectors conduct more in-depth assessments and linking the violations and injuries to the program would have more impact.
REPORT
The first evaluation of the California Injury and Illness Prevention Program found that it reduces workplace injuries, but only at businesses that had been cited for not addressing the regulation's more-specific safety mandates. Having inspectors conduct more in-depth assessments and linking the violations and injuries to the program would have more impact.
PROJECT
By measuring the quality of care for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in a large workers' compensation provider organization in California and assessing value to workers and employers, RAND laid the groundwork for ongoing quality assessment and improvement programs in workers' compensation settings within California and elsewhere.
PROJECT
The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) conducts research on all aspects of civil justice, from trends in litigation and jury verdicts to punitive damages, compensation systems, and alternative dispute resolution. Directly or indirectly, civil justice issues have an impact on us all.
REPORT
This book examines the impact that changes to California's workers' compensation (WC) system have had on the medical care provided to injured workers, synthesizes findings from interviews and available information regarding the implementation of the changes affecting WC medical care, and identifies areas in which additional changes might increase the quality and efficiency of care delivered under the WC system.
REPORT
This study produced two unique tools for healthcare organizations to use to assess, monitor, and provide appropriate care for people with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). One tool assesses the quality of care received by a population of patients with CTS; the other identifies whether surgery is necessary, optional, or inappropriate for individual patients.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This study developed quality measures for diagnosis and management of occupationally associated carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), which should outcomes for patients with this condition.
RESEARCH BRIEF
This brief summarizes a study of how changes to the workers' compensation system have affected return-to-work rates in California, how return-to-work trends compare with policy changes, and recent trends in benefit adequacy.
REPORT
Provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of several large changes to the workers' compensation system on return to work rates for California's injured workers.
REPORT
The most common work-related injuries among firefighters are musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Understanding the frequency and severity of firefighter MSDs is more important with recent changes to California workers' compensation. This book describes the effect of work-related MSDs on firefighters' earnings and employment, the reforms' impact on disability ratings, and employment outcomes since the reforms to the medical delivery system.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Analyzes factors that led to swings in the California workers' compensation insurance market after partial rate deregulation in 1995 and suggest ways to reduce market volatility and insurer insolvencies while maintaining the benefits of competition.
PROJECT
Public safety officers have much higher incidence and cost of injuries that result in disability retirement than other public employees. RAND research helped the Commission on Health and Safety Workers' Compensation and the California legislature in their efforts to provide adequate workers' compensation and disability benefits.
PROJECT
Some workers' compensation insurers offer discounts to firms that have safety plans. While an evaluation of the voluntary Pennsylvania Certified Safety Committee (CSC) program found that compliance did reduce injuries, most participants did not comply with CSC requirements.
REPORT
California's workers' compensation group health program is suitable for three models of a pay-for-performance initiative that include agreed on performance measures, expandable data-collection infrastructure, and incentives in order to ensure physician buy-in.
RESEARCH BRIEF
This research brief examines the performance of the Pennsylvania workers' compensation system in terms of costs and effectiveness and suggests possible reforms for the future.
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