Relationship between employee health risk factors and workers' compensation: Evidence from a cohort of small and medium sized enterprises

Background

The purpose of this study is to determine if employee health risk factors (HRFs) are associated with 1) the occurrence of non-zero cost workers’ compensation (WC) claims and 2) increasing medical and total claim costs in a cohort of small and medium sized enterprises.

Methods

Health risk assessments (HRA) were completed by 16,926 employees from 314 companies in the State of Colorado between May 2010 and December 2014. Predictors included HRFs related to lifestyle (e.g., smoking), psycho/social conditions (e.g., stress), and health conditions (e.g., diabetes). Logistic regression will be used to examine whether employee HRFs are associated with a binary variable reflecting whether or not the employee had at least one WC claim within one year of the HRA . Generalized linear modeling will be employed to examine the association between the HRFs and the medical and total costs of the WC claim.  Models will be adjusted for employee (e.g., age) and employer (e.g., industry) demographic factors.

Results

Analysis is ongoing.  Preliminary analysis suggests that a number of employee HRFs are significantly associated with WC claims and costs. Our results are generally consistent with prior studies showing an association between employee HRFs and work-related injury and illness in large corporations. 

Conclusions

Personal health risks are associated with work-related injury and illness. This study builds upon previous research by assessing the relationship between personal HRFs and work-related injury/illness among thousands of employees from multiple companies and diverse industries.  Effective health risk management interventions are needed to address employee HRFs and reduce WC.