Study: Injured Workers in Pennsylvania Satisfied With Medical Care

Monday, February 8, 2016 | 0

A new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has found that injured workers in Pennsylvania are satisfied with the medical care they receive, legal website LexisNexis reported.

The report, “Factors That Predict Satisfaction With Medical Care: Data from 27,212 Injured Workers Surveyed for 14 Years,” found that injured workers' overall satisfaction rate with the care they received was 83.9%.

There are three main predictors of health care satisfaction among injured workers, according to the study, which found that:

• Injured workers who had received disclosures of their rights under Pennsylvania workers’ comp laws were four times more likely to be satisfied with their care,
• Injured workers who received a correct medical diagnosis were 3.8 times more likely to be satisfied with their care, and
• Injured workers who received explanations from their doctors about treatment options were 1.8 times more likely to be satisfied.

One unexpected finding was that injured workers whose employer or claim administrator presented them with a “provider panel” from which to choose their doctors and health care providers were 1.6 times more likely to be satisfied than injured workers who had not been provided a list to choose from.

In general, injured workers were less likely to be satisfied with their care if they were women and/or between the ages of 30 and 40. Workers who did not receive a clear explanation of their workers' comp rights and/or did not receive a medical evaluation within 48 hours of injury were also less likely to be satisfied.

The researchers used information collected by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor and Industry, which is required to report annually on workers’ ease of accessing medical care for industrial injuries and illnesses.