Disability Research Seminar Series: The Disability Consequences of Poor Quality of Care Under Workers' Compensation and Findings from a Quality Improvement Initiative in Washington State

Policymakers are searching for ways to improve the supports workers receive after the onset or worsening of a major medical condition, with the objective of reducing exit from the labor force and entry into Social Security Disability Insurance. New research findings from Washington State’s workers’ compensation system might point the way.

In a web-based seminar on Monday, December 8, 2014, Dr. Gary Franklin, medical director for Washington’s workers’ compensation program and professor at the University of Washington, and Professor Thomas Wickizer of Ohio State University presented findings from recently published research in which they:

• Identify deficiencies in the care delivered to workers’ compensation claimants and examine their connection to unnecessarily prolonged absence from work and permanent disability
• Describe the approach used to improve the quality of care by a Washington State care coordination and improvement initiative implemented by the Center for Occupational Health and Education (COHE)
• Present findings from an evaluation of the COHE initiative’s impacts on lost work time, net benefit costs, and other outcomes 
  

About the Series

Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy series of web-based seminars about new disability policy research are intended for researchers with advanced degrees in the social sciences and graduate students seeking such degrees. The series features presentations from nationally recognized disability researchers in academia, the government, and think tanks. These seminars are an opportunity to learn about the latest high quality research on disability policy issues before it is published. These real-time, interactive events also provide opportunities for disability researchers to engage with their peers.

The seminar series is sponsored by the Social Security Administration through its Disability Research Consortium co-operative agreement with Mathematica.

For more information, please contact disabilityforums@mathematica-mpr.com.