Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

DOI

10.7205/milmed-d-11-00262

Publication Title

Military Medicine

Volume

177

Issue

1

Pages

17-22

Abstract

Objective: To identify common attributes of Federal workers compensation cases referred to Navy physicians for medical opinions and to determine the impact of the review on the final case decision. Methods: Retrospective case study and descriptive analysis of 258 opinion letters written by physicians on referred cases from 2006 to 2010. Results: Navy physician opinions were considered in the outcome in some of the cases, and there was a statistically significant difference between the claim acceptance rate in the study population and the total population. Worker age was correlated with certain claim types. Conclusions: There is preliminary evidence that the opinion letters of Navy physicians influenced case decisions. Because of the selection bias in how the cases came to the study population, a prospective cohort study is warranted to establish whether this conclusion and the other results noted are valid.

Comments

Web of Science: "Free full-text from publisher."

Original Publication Citation

Hammett, M. E., Jankosky, C., Muller, J., Hughes, E., & Litow, F. (2012). Physician review of workers' compensation case files: Can it affect decision outcomes? Military Medicine, 177(1), 17-22. doi:10.7205/milmed-d-11-00262

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