Looking at an injured worker holistically and considering his or her overall situation can prevent so-called 'creeping catastrophic' claims. (Credit: arka38/Shutterstock)

Getting the best outcomes for injured workers involves much more than just treating the actual injury. Their recoveries depend on a variety of additional factors such as whether they have access to healthy food and clean water, their ability to travel to medical appointments and the extent of support they have.

Increasingly, workers' compensation payers are finding that these social determinants of health (SDoH) have a significant impact on the healing process and a worker's ability to return to work. While these issues may not be a direct responsibility of stakeholders, addressing them to whatever extent possible can vastly improve and expedite the process.

Many of us already do this when catastrophic injuries are involved. We believe SDoH could and should become a critical review of a workers' compensation claim as a way to improve overall health and well-being among the workforce and create better medical outcomes.

Two experts were on hand for our most recent Out Front Ideas webinar to provide their insight and outline strategies the industry can take to influence SDoH factor.

Related: Still accepting applications for 2019 Workers' Comp Award