Evaluation of an integrated workers' compensation/managed care pharmacy benefit program: employee satisfaction and health outcomes.
In response to rising costs, New York State developed an integrated workers' compensation/managed care pharmacy benefit program, ONECARD Rx. This study examined the effect of the program on employee satisfaction and health outcomes. The study design is cross-sectional; the two main study groups comprised users and nonusers of ONECARD Rx between January 1998 and March 2000. All 462 users and a sample of 880 nonusers were surveyed. More than 80% of ONECARD Rx users rated their prescription drug program as excellent, very good, or good compared with 47% of nonusers (P < .01). Of the least desirable features of ONECARD Rx were the time to get the prescription filled and the need to have a workers' compensation number to use the benefit, both of which may be a factor of the short period of exposure time to the benefit. No significant differences in health status were detected among users and nonusers. This study reveals that integration of workers' compensation and managed care pharmacy benefit programs is a promising innovative strategy to improve quality.
Saleh
Shadi
S
Department of Health Policy, Mangerment, and Behavior, School of public Health, State University of New York, Albany, Rensselaer, New York 12144, USA. ssaleh@albany.edu
Washington
Stephanie
S
Stapleton
David
D
DiCiccio-Miller
Yasamin
Y
D002170:Canada; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D016527:Drug Costs; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D009518:New York; D014942:Workers' Compensation