title: Disability case management: an impact assessment in an automotive manufacturing organization.
abstract: A multifaceted disability management program was instituted at an automotive manufacturing organization to control rising workers' compensation costs. A pilot program showed major cost savings over a 9-month period. When total and component disability leave rates were calculated as a percentage of the available workforce and tracked on a weekly basis over the subsequent 3 years, total disability leave rates fell by nearly 50%. This was largely attributable to an approximately 50% decrease in the extended (> 1-year) disability leave rate and a 75% decrease in the workers' compensation leave rate. A novel approach to biostatistical analysis showed a good fit of weekly disability leave rates to a Poisson random variable distribution with an identifiable break point at about 1 1/2 years after observation for extended disability leaves and at 2 years for workers' compensation leaves. This biostatistical approach may prove generalizable to tracking leave rates in other organizations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mobley
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Linz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Breslin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001336:Automobiles; D001699:Biometry; D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012494:Sampling Studies; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D014481:United States; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000191:economics*