The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released updates from a study of fifteen states that reveals 10 to 18 percent of their injured workers never reach substantial return to work. This came as part of a larger study to examine outcomes achieved by injured workers- specifically in the areas of physical health and functioning recovery, return to work, earnings recovery, access to medical care and satisfaction with medical care. The goal is share the results and state comparisons with policymakers so that they can identify the best ways to improve their systems.

WCRI defines “substantial return to work” as those who return to work and remain there for at least a month before another absence from work. The authors of the study, Bogdan Savych and Vennela Thumula said that they recognize working for a month doesn’t seem substantial to most people, but they explain that working for a full month after an injury is more substantial than remaining out of work for a full month.

The results came from a collection of 15 states but 6 individual states, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin released their individual findings from interviews done in 2016. Nine other states conducted interviews between 2013 and 2015.

The study is titled “Comparing Outcomes for Injured Workers, 2016 Interviews”. A tenth of Indiana workers with over seven days of lost time reported that they did not return to work for at least a month primarily because of their injury, 11 percent reported that they did not return within a year after their injury. Virginia workers reported results than ran closer to the median range of data the researchers found with 14 percent reporting they did not go back to work for at least a month after their injury predominantly due to their injury, and 17 percent reporting they did not go back within a year after their injury. North Carolina saw 18 percent of workers reporting no substantial return to work within a year after injury.

Read an overview from WorkCompWire