Abstract
BackgroundThis study examined how meeting the medical needs of injured workers after initial treatment may affect their return to work, using data from the Panel Study of Workers’ Compensation Insurance.MethodsThis study was designed as a longitudinal study, which used data from the second-year, follow-up survey conducted in the secondary cohort of the Panel Study of Workers’ Compensation Insurance. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval were estimated through binomial and multinomial logistic regression analyses to examine the effects of unmet medical needs on workers’ return to original work and return to work overall (including reemployment).ResultsThe returned to original work OR of workers whose rehabilitation needs were met was 1.35 (1.12–1.63) while the return to work OR was 1.20 (1.03–1.41). The returned to original work OR of workers whose medical needs were met was 1.64 (1.18–2.27) while the return to work OR was 1.39 (1.07–1.80). In terms of disability rating, the return to work ORs of workers with mild disabilities whose medical/rehabilitation needs were not met and those of workers without disabilities were 1.71 (1.17–2.49) and 1.97 (1.27–3.08), respectively. In the case of regular/temporary workers, the returned-to-work ORs of workers whose medical/rehabilitation needs were not met were 1.54 (1.12–2.13) and 1.27 (1.03–1.56), respectively.ConclusionsFor workers who sustained work-related injuries, providing medical accessibility and meeting rehabilitation needs were found to be important predictors of return to work after initial treatment.
Highlights
Health and health equality are important goals for the development of a society [1, 2]
The rate of manufacturing workers who returned to their original work was 42.3%; for construction workers, the rate of those who were reemployed and categorized as non return to work was 52.5 and 35.0%, respectively, exhibiting a higher rate for non return to work than workers in other industries (p < 0.001)
Return to work Returned to original work Reemployed
Summary
Health and health equality are important goals for the development of a society [1, 2]. Unmet medical needs were shown to be high among workers with long weekly working hours [2, 11], low-income workers, and older adult workers [12, 13]. Along with these individual factors, regional factors, such as the degree of urbanization or share of private hospital beds in an area, may influence unmet medical needs [14, 15]. This study examined how meeting the medical needs of injured workers after initial treatment may affect their return to work, using data from the Panel Study of Workers’ Compensation Insurance
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