Publications on Occupational Safety

2022

• 

  The role of evidence in occupational safety and health November 23, 2022

  Stephanie Stockwell, Giulia Maistrello, Sarah Ball, Jessica Dawney, Michael Whitmore, Nick Fahy

  This study aimed to explore and identify globally: (i) what types of evidence are produced, shared and used, and by whom, and (ii) how OSH decisions are informed and the role evidence plays in this process. Using data from a rapid evidence assessment and stakeholder engagement activities, two conceptual models were developed. One mapped different actors and agencies and the other highlighted processes at an operational and systems level.

2021

• 

  Workplace financial wellbeing interventions for young workers: A review of the evidence and analysis of Britain's Healthiest Workplace (BHW) and Asia's Healthiest Workplace (AHW) surveys March 8, 2021

  Jennifer Bousfield, William D. Phillips, Camilla d'Angelo, Christian Van Stolk

  This study explores the impact of workplace financial wellbeing interventions (WFWI) on the mental health of young workers, through analysis of Britain and Asia's Healthiest Workplace survey data and a literature review. Findings suggest that WFWI are a potentially promising approach, but there is a pressing need for further evidence. Employees should consider implementing WFWI and we provide recommendations to support this process.

2019

• 

  Who Settles in Workers' Compensation? An Analysis of How Trends in Claim Settlements Relate to Workers' Compensation Benefit Changes in Oregon December 23, 2019

  Stephanie Rennane, Samantha Cherney

  This report explores how the expected value of workers' compensation benefits interacts with the decision to settle a claim. The authors analyze the relationship between the expected value of benefits and the probability of settlement before and after a 2005 policy in Oregon that changed the value of permanent disability benefits. The findings do not show evidence that changes in potential benefit values result in strategic decisions to settle.

• 

  Access to Medical Treatment for Injured Workers in California: Year 3 Annual Report June 21, 2019

  Kandice A. Kapinos, Cheryl K. Montemayor

  The California workers' compensation program provides medical care and indemnity benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries or illnesses. The key objective of this third report in a three-part series is to describe access to medical care among injured workers in California using medical billing data from Version 2.0 of the Workers' Compensation Information System.

2018

• 

  Access to Medical Treatment for Injured Workers in California: Year 2 Annual Report December 27, 2018

  Kandice A. Kapinos, Molly Waymouth, Mark Barrett, Cheryl K. Montemayor, Andrew W. Mulcahy, Denise D. Quigley

  The California's Workers' Compensation program provides medical care and indemnity (e.g., wage-replacement) benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries and illnesses. This Year 2 report updates the trends in care for injured workers in California that were examined in a Year 1 report — all part of a three-year state effort. This study uses data from claims, a physician survey, and Medical Provider Network listings.

• 

  Wage Loss Monitoring for Injured Workers in California's Workers' Compensation System: 2014–2015 Injury Year Findings (Second Interim Report) December 27, 2018

  Michael Dworsky, Stephanie Rennane, Nicholas Broten

  This report presents new estimates of wage loss for workers in California who suffered a workplace injury or illness in 2014–2015 and compares these estimates with trends before, during, and after the Great Recession. The authors matched injured workers with control workers in the same firm at the time of injury with similar characteristics and analyzed the impact of injury on labor market outcomes, including earnings and employment.

• 

  Buying Time: The Insurance Value and Distortionary Effects of Workers' Compensation February 2, 2018

  Stephanie Rennane

  Examines the roles of moral hazard and increased liquidity in explaining the relationship between Workers' Compensation benefit levels and injury duration.

2017

• 

  Physician Reporting Requirements for Injured Workers in California: A Review of Reporting Processes and Payment Policies December 19, 2017

  Denise D. Quigley, Molly Waymouth, Barbara O. Wynn

  This report assesses California workers' compensation–required reports — including the structure and content, level of effort, and allowances — and compares the elements and processes with other systems to inform potential improvements and further refinements to California's reporting requirements and policies. The report should be of general interest to stakeholders in California's workers' compensation (WC) system and in other WC programs.

• 

  Modeling the Economic Impact of a California Workers' Compensation Formulary July 17, 2017

  Andrew W. Mulcahy, Simon Hollands, Erin Lindsey Duffy, Aaron Strong, Barbara O. Wynn

  This report estimates the potential impacts of a California Workers' Compensation formulary in terms of changes in prescription drug use and spending and discusses the potential broader impacts of these changes on the California economy. This report is the second of three related reports.

• 

  Provider Fraud in California Workers' Compensation: Selected Issues June 26, 2017

  Nicholas M. Pace, Julia Pollak

  This report focuses on workers' compensation fraud — specifically, providers' intentional manipulation of rules and procedures. The report conceptualizes the sources of and remedies for workers' compensation fraud in California and offers some high-level recommendations for regulators and legislators to consider.

2016

• 

  Benefits and Earnings Losses for Permanently Disabled Workers in California: Trends Through the Great Recession and Effects of Recent Reforms September 27, 2016

  Michael Dworsky, Seth A. Seabury, Frank W. Neuhauser, Ujwal Kharel, Roald Euller

  Following California's 2012 bill to enact major reforms to the state workers' compensation system, RAND researchers assess trends in earnings loss and permanent partial disability benefits between 2005 and 2012, including analysis of the Great Recession's impact on outcomes for injured workers, and examine how the reforms might affect injury compensation going forward.

• 

  Implementing a Drug Formulary for California's Workers' Compensation Program August 25, 2016

  Barbara O. Wynn, Christine Buttorff, Erika Meza, Erin Audrey Taylor, Andrew W. Mulcahy

  California Assembly Bill 1124 required the state's Division of Workers' Compensation to establish a formulary for all drugs provided to injured workers under the state's workers' compensation program. To aid in that effort, this report compares and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of existing state workers' compensation formularies and analyzes the issues and options for structuring and implementing an evidence-based formulary.

• 

  Benefits and Earnings Losses for Permanently Disabled Workers in California: Trends Through the Great Recession and Impacts of Recent Reforms February 11, 2016

  Michael Dworsky, Seth A. Seabury, Frank W. Neuhauser, Ujwal Kharel, Roald Euller

  Provides evidence on how reforms to California's state workers' compensation system have affected disability ratings and benefits and compares Permanent Partial Disability benefits to the earnings losses experienced by permanently disabled workers.

2015

• 

  Psychological Wellbeing and Work: Improving outcomes for people with common mental health problems July 8, 2015

  Christian Van Stolk, Joanna Hofman, Marco Hafner, Barbara Janta

  This brief summarises key findings and recommendations from a report that explores proposals to improve employment and health outcomes for people with common mental health problems.

• 

  Home Health Care for California's Injured Workers: Options for Implementing a Fee Schedule January 27, 2015

  Barbara O. Wynn, Anne E. Boustead

  The California Department of Industrial Relations/Division of Worker's Compensation asked RAND to help develop a fee schedule for home health services provided to injured workers. After consulting stakeholders, reviewing other payers' fee schedules, and interviewing WC administrators from other states, the researchers focused on options to create a single fee schedule covering the full range of services and made three sets of recommendations.

2014

• 

  Implementing a Resource-Based Relative Value Scale Fee Schedule for Physician Services: An Assessment of Policy Options for the California Workers' Compensation Program April 28, 2014

  Barbara O. Wynn, Harry H. Liu, Andrew W. Mulcahy, Edward N. Okeke, Neema Iyer, Lawrence S. Painter

  RAND researchers used 2011 medical data to examine the impact of implementing a resource-based relative value scale to pay for physician services under the California workers' compensation system. Current allowances under the Official Medical Fee Schedule are approximately 116 percent of Medicare-allowed amounts and, by law, will transition to no more than 120 percent of Medicare payment amounts over four years. This report details the researchers' findings.

2012

• 

  Allowances for Spinal Hardware under California’s Official Medical Fee Schedule: Issues and Options May 9, 2012

  Barbara O. Wynn

  Testimony presented before the California State Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on May 9, 2012.

• 

  An Evaluation of the California Injury and Illness Prevention Program January 26, 2012

  John Mendeloff, Wayne B. Gray, Amelia Haviland, Regan Main, Jing Xia

  The Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) requirement has been the most frequently cited standard in California workplace health and safety inspections almost every year since it became effective in July 1991. This evaluation of the IIPP measures program effectiveness using information on citations for violations of the program and data on worker safety in California.

• 

  Management of Psychosocial Risks at Work: An Analysis of the Findings of the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks: Technical Report Annexes 1 and 2 January 1, 2012

  Christian Van Stolk, Laura Staetsky, Emmanuel Hassan, Chong Woo Kim

  This report focuses on management of psychosocial risks at work, exploring how practices vary across Europe depending on, for example, establishment size, location and sector.

• 

  Management of Psychosocial Risks at Work: An Analysis of the Findings of the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks January 1, 2012

  Christian Van Stolk, Laura Staetsky, Emmanuel Hassan, Chong Woo Kim

  This report focuses on management of psychosocial risks at work, exploring how practices vary across Europe depending on, for example, establishment size, location and sector.

2011

• 

  Medical Care Provided Under California's Workers' Compensation Program: Effects of the Reforms and Additional Opportunities to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Care August 22, 2011

  Barbara O. Wynn, Justin W. Timbie, Melony E. Sorbero

  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.

• 

  RAND/UCLA Quality-of-Care Measures for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Tools for Assessing Quality of Care and Appropriateness of Surgery August 16, 2011

  Teryl K. Nuckols, Anne Reid Griffin, Steven M. Asch, Douglas Benner, Erika Bruce, Mary Cassidy, Walter T. Chang, Neil G. Harness, Liisa Hiatt, Charles K. Jablecki, et al.

  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.

• 

  California's Workers' Compensation Reform: Effects on Return to Work February 18, 2011

  Seth A. Seabury, Robert T. Reville, Stephanie Williamson, Christopher F. McLaren, Adam Gailey, Elizabeth Wilke, Frank W. Neuhauser

  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.

• 

  Use of Compound Drugs, Medical Foods, and Co-Packs in California's Workers' Compensation Program: An Overview of the Issues January 28, 2011

  Barbara O. Wynn

  Explores issues surrounding the use of compound drugs, co-packs and medical foods under the California workers' compensation program and assesses whether policy changes are needed to promote medically appropriate and efficient use of these products.

• 

  Workers' Compensation Reform and Return to Work: The California Experience January 4, 2011

  Seth A. Seabury, Robert T. Reville, Stephanie Williamson, Christopher F. McLaren, Adam Gailey, Elizabeth Wilke, Frank W. Neuhauser

  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.

• Page 1 of 2
• 1
• 2
• Next