Abstract
Background: The financial impact regarding choice of physician within the workers' compensation domain has not been well studied. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the difference in claim cost between employee- and employer-directed choice of treating physician after injury. Methods: Thirty-five thousand six hundred forty indemnity lost time claims from a 13-year period at a nationwide company were analyzed with multivariate logistic regression to determine the association of medical direction with risk of high-cost claims. Results: States that have employer-directed physician choice were associated with a lower risk of having high-cost claims (≥$50,000) but higher attorney involvement than employee direction. The net effect of this enhanced presence of attorneys offsets the benefits of employer choice of treating physician. Conclusion: States that permit employer selection of treating physician have slightly higher cost due to the higher prevalence of attorney involvement in the claims process.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | e232-e237 |
Journal | Journal of occupational and environmental medicine |
Volume | 60 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2018 |
Keywords
- attorney
- cost reduction
- logistic regression
- medical direction
- occupational injury
- odds ratio
- workers' compensation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health