Issues and performance in the Pennsylvania workers' compensation system - Greenberg, Michael D. (RAND Corp./Center for haealth and safety in the workplace, 2008)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-60)
Introduction. Workers' compensation in Pennsylvania : overview and recent history. Investigating Workers' compensation policy in Pennsylvania -- Benefits, employer costs, and compensation. Benefits and employer costs. Compensation and return to work -- Safety. Summary background on workplace safety regulation and policies. Workplace safety performance in Pennsylvania. Safety compliance and response to policy initiatives -- Medical care. Performance on cost and outcomes. Worker satisfaction, access to care, and physical outcomes. Policies in Workers' compensation medical care. Networks and panel access. Fee schedule. Utilization review and disputes over medical billing -- Dispute resolution. Performance of dispute resolution system in Pennsylvania. Policies in workers' compensation adjudication in Pennsylvania. Serial hearings -- Compromise & release. Mandatory mediation. Medical depositions vs. reports -- Discussion. Conclusions and recommendations
Pennsylvania's workers' compensation system was the subject of legislative changes in the 1990s and again in 2004 and 2006, changes that were partly a response to rising workers' compensation costs over the preceding 30 years. In this paper, Greenberg and Haviland examine the performance of the commonwealth's workers' compensation system and the issues it faces, focusing particularly on benefits and compensation, workplace safety, medical care, and dispute resolution. The authors review the published research and the available data on workers' compensation in Pennsylvania, and they supplement this review with qualitative interviews with a range of stakeholder groups in the state. Greenberg and Haviland find generally that Pennsylvania's workers' compensation system performs reasonably well relative to other states, but they note that the commonwealth may not be as strong in its performance on some safety measures. Greenberg and Haviland also note that Pennsylvania, like the nation as a whole, will continue to face the challenge of rising health care costs. The authors conclude with a series of recommendations for policymakers, emphasizing the importance of collecting more and better data on the performance of the workers' compensation system, to inform the debate over future reforms and initiatives