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Managed care in workers' compensation plans.

Peele PB; Tollerud DJ

Annu Rev Public Health 2001 May; 22:1-13

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.22.1.1

20038129

Workers' compensation plans have lagged behind most public and private health care plans in the adoption of managed care techniques. This is largely attributable to the underlying differences between workers' compensation and group health plans. Managed care techniques were developed within group health plans with the objective of health at the lowest cost. In workers' compensation, managed care must address a different objective--restoring a worker to health and productivity at the lowest cost. It is this fundamental difference that makes the application of managed care techniques to workers' compensation plans contentious and at times inappropriate. Research on the impact of managed care on the health and welfare of injured workers is sparse, and important questions remain about the appropriateness of care delivered under workers' compensation managed care plans. In this paper, we discuss the application of managed care to workers' compensation, and highlight the barriers to effective implementation.

Medical-services; Medical-treatment; Worker-health; Occupational-health-programs; Health-care; Employee-health; Author Keywords: insurance; employment; occupational health; employment benefits; health services

Pamela B Peele, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, 130 DeSoto Street, A649, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261

AREHDT

20010501

Journal Article

peele@pitt.edu

Grant

2001

Grant-Number-R01-OH-003419

0163-7525

Disease and Injury: Traumatic Injuries

Annual Review of Public Health

PA

University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh