Health care workplace injury data

Health care facilities in South Carolina and across the nation are subject to regular inspection and interrogation for data that may be used by analysts and regulatory organizations. A report from the Aon Global Risk Consulting Firm has discovered complex patterns related to injuries and compensation payouts in the health care industry.

The Health Care Workers’ Compensation Barometer report, which is released every two years, compiled data from approximately 1,600 health care facilities across the country. It found a slight annual increase in the severity of health care workplace injuries that lead to workers’ compensation claims but a 1 percent decrease in the volume of such claims.

The report indicated that the aging workforce and increasing incidence of workplace violence might be some of the factors behind the change in injury severity rates. More than half of all nurses are over the age of 50, and 91 percent of the people surveyed for the report had experienced at least one incidence of violence in the workplace during the last three years. However, there may be other reasons behind the change in injury severity. For example, the state of California reported claims severity that was more than three times higher than the rest of the nation.

Health care workers who are injured on the job or who develop an occupational disease, such as a hospital infection, should be covered by their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policies. Benefits can include medical care as well as partial wage replacement. They may want to have legal assistance when they are preparing their claims to ensure that they contain all required information and are filed within the statutory time period.

Article Source Web Link: Insurance Journal, “What’s Ahead in Health Care Workers’ Compensation?”, Sept. 27, 2016