title: Characterizing the relationship between in-hospital measures and workers' compensation outcomes among severely injured construction workers using a data linkage strategy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To characterize the relationship between acute measures of severity and three important workers' compensation outcomes associated with a worker's ability to return to work and the cost of a work-related injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Probabilistic data linkage of workers' compensation claims made by injured construction workers from 2000 to 2005 with two Illinois medical record registries. Multivariable robust regression models were built to assess the relationship between three in-hospital measures and three outcomes captured in the Workers' Compensation data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the final multivariable models, a categorical increase in injury severity was associated with an extra $7,830 (95% CI: $4,729-$10,930) of monetary compensation awarded, though not with temporary total disability (TTD) or permanent partial disability (PPD). Our models also predicted that every extra day spent in the hospital results in an increase of 0.51 (95% CI: 0.23-0.80) weeks of TTD and an extra $1,248 (95% CI: $810-$1,686) in monetary compensation. Discharge to an intermediate care facility following the initial hospitalization was associated with an increase of 8.15 (95% CI: 4.03-12.28) weeks of TTD and an increase of $23,440 (95% CI: $17,033-$29,847) in monetary compensation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We were able to link data from the initial hospitalization for an injured worker with the final workers' compensation claims decision or settlement. The in-hospital measures of injury severity were associated with total monetary compensation as captured in the workers' compensation process.
authors.affiliation: Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ruestow
authors.forename: Lee S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Friedman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D060389:Construction Industry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007380:Intermediate Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000191:economics*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D062707:Return to Work / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: disability; injury; injury severity; length of stay; linkage; worker's compensation