Keeping Workers with Medical Problems Employed: Can an Intervention That Succeeded Inside Workers’ Compensation Succeed Outside? (Policy Brief)

Every year, more than 2 million workers across the nation lose their jobs or leave the workforce because of a medical condition. Many of them face economic hardship and become dependent on public benefits because they do not get the health care or support services that would allow them to continue working. Some states have adopted promising early-intervention strategies designed to help these workers stay employed, but the states could potentially do much more. This policy brief considers one option: making Washington State’s Centers for Occupational Health and Education (COHE) program, a care coordination and quality improvement initiative that has been effective inside the state’s workers’ compensation system available to workers with non-compensable medical conditions.