More California workers are returning to work after being injured on the job, due in part to the state's reforms to the workers' compensation system, according to the California Division of Workers' Compensation.

The division was required to conduct an analysis under the provisions of the 2005 reforms that enacted a Permanent Disability Rating Schedule.

Based on the data it collected, the division found that the percentage of injured workers who were employed four quarters after the quarter in which they were injured totaled 70 percent in 2005, an increase of more than 5 percent from before the reform legislation.

In order to conduct a full analysis of the effectiveness of the regulations, the division said it would need to conduct a wage loss study. However, the division noted that such a study requires three years of data, and therefore would not be available until late 2008.

"In lieu of a full wage loss study, the division is analyzing return-to-work rates," the division said in the analysis. "Return-to-work rates are important because the RAND Corp. [a think tank group] concluded, among other observations about return-to-work, that injured workers who continue at the at-injury employer may actually receive benefits that exceed their earning losses after tax considerations are taken into account."

The division said it considered the roughly 12-month time frame for return-to-work data because RAND characterized it as "a strong predictor of the long-term economic outcomes of disabled workers."

Looking at specific injuries, the division said it only had enough data to compare six types of injuries from 2005 with those of prior years.

For spine injuries, the return-to-work rate increased from 60 percent to 70 percent in 2005, and the rate for knee injuries increased from 75 percent to 86 percent. The division said there were increases in arm and hand injury return-to-work rates, but that the rate for shoulder injuries decreased from 73 percent to 71 percent.

The division will conduct an examination of wage-loss for the period immediately before the reforms, from 2000 through 2003, and expects that to be completed in March. That data will eventually be used for comparison once the wage-loss study for the years after the rating schedule was enacted is completed.

Special Reports /

Calif. Injured Worker Return Rate Improves

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