The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released four new state reports comparing the outcomes of workers injured on the job in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida and Georgia, with outcomes in 11 other states. They looked at recovery of physical health and functioning, return to work, earnings recovery, access to care and satisfaction with their care.

This is part of an ongoing multiyear effort by WCRI to collect and analyze data on the outcomes of medical care achieved by injured workers. The other states where WCRI conducted interviews were Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

In Arkansas, they found that 8 percent of workers reported earning “a lot less” at the time of the interview compared with the time of their injury. This was a similar finding to what authors observed in the median of the study states.

In Connecticut four out of five workers said they were “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with their overall workers’ comp medical care (83 percent). At the same time, 11 percent said they were “very dissatisfied’. This was somewhat lower than the median state.

Sixteen percent of Florida workers with more than seven days of lost time reported never returning to work for at least a month, mainly due to the injury as of three years postinjury, while 20 percent reported no substantial return to work within one year of the injury. In the median state, these figures were 14 percent and 17 percent- respectively.

Nineteen percent of Georgia workers reported they had “big problems” getting the services either they, or the provider wanted. Seven teen percent reported “big problems” getting the primary provider they wanted. This was similar to observations in typical study states.

Read more from WCRI.