Work

Medical Cost of Workers’ Compensation Claims Related to Patient Handling and Mobility Tasks Within Skilled Nursing Facilities, Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Assisted Living Facilities

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the medical costs related to patient handling & mobility (PH&M) claims. METHODS: Closed medical only and indemnity workers' compensation claims were utilized for this exploratory study. In addition to the PH&M tasks, the claimants' gender, age, tenure, and the claim lag time were also analyzed. RESULTS: Generalized linear models indicated that variables related to tasks, claims' number of open days and age of the claimants had meaningful effects on the adjusted medical costs for medical only claims. For indemnity claims, the number of open days of claims, age and tenure had meaningful effects. Gender had meaningful effects only for indemnity claims when classifying the claims by patient handling tasks versus non-patient handling tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that factors, other than the type of injury; meaningfully influenced the adjusted medical costs of indemnity claims.

Source: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

DOI: 10.1097/jom.0000000000002048

Authors: Luis F. Pieretti, Robert A. Sylvester, Karl V. Siegfried

Institution: University of Southern Maine

Language: English

Topic: Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces

Subfield: Occupational Therapy

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health