Workers' Comp News

Study: Employers Are More Satisfied with Managed Care

Improved communication with injured workers' doctors may be one of the most important benefits of a managed care approach to workers' compensation medical care, according to a national study published in the March 2003 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Led by researchers at the University of Washington, the study included 120 companies with a combined work force of more than 7,700 people. Compared with a group of similar firms that continued on a traditional fee-for-service workers' compensation plan, employers in the managed care program reported increased satisfaction rates.

From the employers' perspective, improved communications was one of the main benefits of managed care. Sixty-four percent were satisfied with the information they received from the injured worker's health care provider, compared with 29 percent in the comparison group. The managed care program was also associated with increased frequency and quality of updates about the injured worker's treatment and progress

Overall, about two-thirds of employers in the managed care program rated the worker's return to work as "excellent," compared with one-third in the fee-for-service group. Managed care also received high marks for the speed of processing workers' compensation claims.

The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine is the official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). The study mentioned was national in scope and not designed to specifically evaluate the performance of the Ohio managed care program. For more information about the study and the organization, log on to www.acoem.org.