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PubMed1996

Student health policies of U.S. medical schools.

BACKGROUND: Medical students are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens, yet few data are available about U.S. medical schools' policies to protect students. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey of the student affairs deans at the 126 U.S. medical schools was conducted in May 1994. A confidential questionnaire inquired about policies regarding vaccination for hepatitis B virus (HBV), blood and body-fluid exposures, universal precautions training, and health and disability insurance for students. RESULTS: A total of 108 (86%) of the schools participated in the survey. Most (99, 92%) required either HBV vaccination, evidence of immunity, or a signed waiver refusing vaccination. Nearly all (94, 87%) required health insurance, and almost all (101, 94%) offered a plan (at a mean cost of $690 annually), but fewer schools (69, 64%) offered disability insurance. The schools frequently held students responsible for the costs of HBV vaccination (73, 68%), postexposure serologic testing (22, 20%), and treatment of training-related medical problems (43, 40%). CONCLUSION: Most medical schools comply with current recommendations for preventing training-related exposures to bloodborne pathogens, illness, and injury, but students face a substantial financial responsibility for these services at a time when many have large debts. Many schools do not have disability insurance readily available for students. Medical schools should review their student health policies to protect students adequately.

Blood-Borne Pathogens↗
PubMed2000

Older workers' progression from private disability benefits to Social Security disability benefits.

People with medical conditions that limit their ability to work tend to receive short-term disability benefits initially and may then move to long-term and eventually to permanent disability benefits. The progression of older workers (those aged 55 to 64) along that continuum of benefits is documented here with data from a large disability insurance company. The data show that older workers who receive short-term medical disability benefits are three times as likely as younger workers to progress to receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, although a slight reversal of that trend occurs as workers pass age 62. Musculoskeletal conditions are the most frequent basis of short-term disability claims among older workers, with circulatory conditions running a close second. Furthermore, although all medical conditions are more likely to lead to SSDI benefits among older workers, circulatory conditions do so most frequently. This article discusses industry standards for the management of disability claims at each level of severity. It also addresses common and emerging disability management practices that may reduce the likelihood of impaired workers developing long-term or permanent financial dependence on disability benefits programs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The U.S. study of work incapacity and reintegration.

In many countries, including the United States, the number of persons being awarded long-term or permanent disability benefits has risen dramatically in recent years. Government agencies, advocates for the disabled, and others are looking for ways to help persons with disabilities return to the labor force. The Work Incapacity and Reintegration (WIR) Study was developed to address that issue. The United States and five other countries--Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, and the Netherlands--have participated in a cross-national study of work incapacity under the auspices of the International Social Security Association. The study had two objectives: to examine the factors that influence the pattern of work resumption among persons disabled by a back condition and to identify the medical and nonmedical interventions that are most effective in helping such persons reenter the labor force. Samples for the U.S. national study were drawn from four cohorts: Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries, and recipients of temporary disability insurance (TDI) benefits from the states of California and New Jersey. Only the TDI recipients were included in the comparative study. This article discusses the study design and methodology and summarizes the findings of the U.S. national study. Findings from the U.S. study show significant differences between the two cohorts in terms of work resumption and other characteristics. The proportions of respondents from the TDI cohorts who were working at the third and final study contact ranged from 53 percent to 65 percent, compared with less than 5 percent of the DI and SSI respondents. Respondents from the DI and SSI cohorts were on average about 10 years older than the TDI respondents, were less well educated, and reported more physical demands in their usual work. They also reported lower levels of functional capacity, higher levels of pain, and a much greater tendency to have other chronic illnesses. The types of medical treatments provided were remarkably uniform across cohorts and, within cohorts, between those who did and did not resume working. Thus, no medical intervention was identified that showed a significantly higher success rate in terms of facilitating a return to work. However, changes made in the work environment by the employer were an important factor in work reintegration; about 80 percent of respondents who resumed working did so with the help of workplace accommodations. In addition, since respondents with fewer physical demands in their job were more likely to return to work, there appears to be some potential for job retraining as a means of promoting a return to work. The Social Security Administration should consider these findings in developing strategies to help disabled workers reenter the labor force.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Administrative expenses under OASDI.

Costs of administering old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) are of interest both to specialists in income maintenance and to the general public. This article presents a summary of these expenses compared with several important bases: Contribution income, benefit payments, and taxable payroll. An index is developed and used to analyze changes in administrative expense levels from 1960 through 1979. Over the long run, the cost of operate OASDI per unit of work has increased more slowly than for service industries in general, a trend that should continue in the old-age and survivors insurance program (OASI). Although implementing the 1980 Disability Amendments will raise disability insurance (DI) unit costs, these higher expenses are necessary to obtain the more selective benefit payments provided in this cost-saving legislation.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Workers' compensation: a background for Social Security professionals.

This article provides a brief history and background of workers' compensation programs for occupationally injured and ill workers in the United States. It presents the basic principle involved in workers' compensation and briefly discusses the disability benefits to which workers are generally entitled. It also discusses why there are settlements in this disability program and the availability of information about the amounts paid in workers' compensation cases for obtaining an offset for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits paid to the worker. Finally, the article explains the rationale behind the public policy on coordination of Disability Insurance and workers' compensation in the new paradigm of disability and return to work.

Eligibility Determination↗
PubMed1999

Unemployment and health: physicians' role.

Unemployment has been documented to have detrimental impacts on a person's mental, physical and social well being. When unemployment or being out of work is due to injury or sickness, the effects are compounded by mental and social factors. In an effort to prevent prolonged unemployment due to injury or sickness, changes were made to existing disability income supplement plans to redirect their focus from basic income support to active employment measures. This is intended to reduce individual's dependency on financial assistance and encourage individuals to take personal responsibility for getting back to work. The various disability insurance plans require primary care physicians to provide opinion and participate in the recovery and safety return to work of injured or sick persons. The physician approach to medical care of the injured/sick person with employment problems should focus on return to work as a goal of treatment. The patient should be seen as part of a social or environmental system and not as an isolated individual. The physician has a significant role to play in the diagnosis, determining functional abilities and participation in the return to work plan. The physician positive participation, not only provides an intrinsic cost saving value in insurance costs, but more important, helps patients maintain gainful employment. Work often helps in regaining health. Many factors are involved in a return to work outcome and physicians need to know how to identify and track the factors that facilitate or impede return to work. The challenge for the physician is to utilize the available resources to facilitate the recovery and communicate with other parties involved in the return to work process. This paper discusses the disability insurance plans in Canada and the community expectations from physicians dealing with patients who are out of work because of injury or sickness. It is acknowledged that primary care physicians' skills are not adequate in this area and that there is a need for continuing medical education to prepare them for this new role. Relevant topics should be introduced in medical curricula.

Canada↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Are the young becoming more disabled?

This paper investigates trends in disability in the U.S. population, particularly among people under age fifty. Even as the elderly have become less disabled, reported disability has risen for younger Americans, especially those ages 30-49. We suggest some possible explanations for rising disability levels, such as obesity, technological advances in medicine, and changing disability insurance laws. Obesity and its attendant disorders seem particularly associated with these trends, although the data are not definitive. Whatever its sources, rising disability among the young could have adverse consequences for public programs such as disability insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

[Development of second-line occupational health services: toward an integrated network of insurers and care providers].

OBJECTIVE: To describe the development of the second-line Occupational Health Services and the role of private insurance companies in it over the period 1994-1999. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional study. METHOD: Data were collected in 1999 from written documents and supplementary interviews with the five largest private providers of disability insurance, the National Insurance Institute, nine Occupational Health Services of different natures and 24 institutions for second-line occupational health service. RESULTS: After the privatization of the Health Law in 1996 and parts of the Law on disability Insurance, most employers covered the risk of continued payment of wages in case of disability with private insurers. These attempted to keep claims down by active engagement in arbitration, treatment and diagnostics of disabled employees so as to counteract avoidable absenteeism. Under the influence of the insurance companies, a trend developed toward integrated nation-wide chains in which the services provided by insurers, by occupational health services and by implementing institutions are geared for one another. CONCLUSION: Commercial provision of Occupational Health Service is a new, demand-active form of care provision in which the financier plays a key part. This provision of services supplied important innovating impulses for health care in its entirety because of its large scale, strong protocolling of processes and management on the basis of continuous cost-benefit analyses. A lucid and socially acceptable regulation of commercial providers of occupational health services was lacking.

Health Personnel↗
PubMed1991

Effects of cost sharing in health insurance on disability days.

We assess how cost sharing for medical services affects restricted activity days (RADs) and work loss disability days (WLDs), using data from a controlled experiment. We grouped the experimental insurance plans into four categories, one providing free care and the other three requiring varying amounts of cost sharing. RADs per person per year decreased by one to two days with greater cost sharing, with the strongest effects among those of average or poor health status, especially the non-poor. Unlike RADs, WLDs showed no systematic differences by plan.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2000

Quality of life of homeless persons with mental illness: results from the course-of-homelessness study.

OBJECTIVE: The quality of life of homeless persons with mental illness was compared with that of homeless persons without mental illness. METHODS: Subjective and objective quality-of-life ratings were obtained in face-to-face interviews with 1,533 homeless adults in Los Angeles, who were identified using probability sampling of people on the streets and at shelters and meal facilities; 520 subjects were tracked for 15 months. Ratings of homeless persons with and without mental illness were compared using chi square tests and regression analyses. RESULTS: Mentally ill homeless persons were significantly more likely than those without mental illness to receive Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance, Veterans Affairs disability benefits, or Medicaid. However, those with mental illness still fared significantly worse in terms of physical health, level of subsistence needs met, victimization, and subjective quality of life. Differences between groups in the subjective quality-of-life ratings were accounted for by modifiable factors such as income and symptoms rather than by nonmodifiable demographic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions most likely to improve the quality of life of homeless persons with mental illness include those that stress maintenance of stable housing and provision of food and clothing and that address physical health problems and train individuals to minimize their risk of victimization. Interventions that decrease depressive symptoms might also improve subjective quality of life.

Adult↗