The association between time taken to report, lodge and start wage replacement and return-to-work outcomes

Objective: Determine if prolonged times taken to notify, file, adjudicate and start wage replacement for workers' compensation claims are associated with poorer return-to-work outcomes.

Methods: Using 71,607 claims lodged 2007-12, logistic regression determined associations between time to claim filing, adjudication and payment and; i) socio-demographic/economic, occupational, and injury-related factors; and ii) 52 weeks of wage replacement (WR).

Results: Prolonged times for all processing steps were associated with increased odds of reaching 52 weeks of WR. Prolonged times in more than one step increased the odds of a long-term claim. Being female was the only variable consistently associated with each prolonged processing time.

Conclusions: The predictive ability of prolonged times in claim lodgement and processing and compensation payments demonstrate that shorter claims management and adjudication times could improve return-to-work outcomes.