title: The Relationship Between Work-Disability Duration and Claimant's Expected Time to Return to Work as Recorded by Workers' Compensation Claims Managers.
abstract: Purpose This research sought to determine whether there is a relationship between claimants' expected time to return to work (RTW) as recorded by claims managers and compensated days of work disability. Methods We utilized workers' compensation data from a large, United States-based insurance company. RTW expectations were collected within 30 days of the claim being reported and these were compared with the termination of total temporary indemnity payments. Bivariate and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results A significant relationship between expected time to RTW and compensated disability duration was observed. The unadjusted correlation between work-disability duration and expected time to RTW was .25 (p < .001). Our multivariate model explained 29.8 % of the variance, with expected time to RTW explaining an additional 9.5 % of the variance in work-disability duration beyond what was explained by the covariates. Conclusion The current study's findings support the hypothesis that claimant RTW estimates as recorded by claims managers are significantly related to compensated-disability duration, and the relationship is maintained after controlling for variance that can be explained by other variables available within workers' compensation databases.
authors.affiliation: Center for Disability Research, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 71 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA, 01748, USA. amandae.young@libertymutual.com.
authors.forename: Amanda E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Center for Disability Research, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 71 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA, 01748, USA.
authors.forename: Elyssa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Besen
authors.affiliation: Center for Disability Research, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 71 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA, 01748, USA.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Willetts
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007343:Insurance Carriers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D062707:Return to Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Disability management; Prognostic factors; Recovery expectations; Return-to-work; Work-disability prevention; Workers’ compensation