A Systems Evaluation of Occupational Injuries and Illness in the US Army.

Abstract

Workers' compensation (WC) processes do not lead to maximal return-to-work or cost savings. The aim of this study is to assess barriers and facilitators to reporting and managing injuries and illnesses among civilian employees in the US Army. We triangulated a review of policy and practice documents, stakeholder interviews, a descriptive analysis of WC data, and a literature review to inform recommendations of best practices for improving return-to-work and lowering WC costs. Federal WC costs are trending downward for civilian employees in the US Army; however, the approaches are not uniform or optimized, especially at the installation level. This mixed methods evaluation of the Department of Defense WC elucidates areas for improvement and potential best practices within the Federal WC system.