@article{b8748210aaa6409a9c2ecde34025c682,
title = "Development and initial application of a harmonised multi-jurisdiction work injury compensation database",
abstract = "Objectives: Workers{\textquoteright} compensation schemes provide funding for wage replacement and healthcare for injured and ill workers. In Australia, workers{\textquoteright} compensation schemes operate independently in different jurisdictions, making comparisons of health service use challenging. We sought to develop and deploy a new database of health service and income support data, harmonising data from multiple Australian workers{\textquoteright} compensation jurisdictions. Methods: We worked with workers{\textquoteright} compensation authorities from six Australian jurisdictions to combine claims, healthcare, medicines and wage replacement data for a sample of compensated workers with claims for musculoskeletal conditions. We designed a structured relational database and developed a bespoke health services coding scheme to harmonise data across jurisdictions. Results: The Multi-Jurisdiction Workers{\textquoteright} Compensation Database contains four data sets: claims, services, medicines and wage replacement. The claims data set contains 158,946 claims for low back pain (49.6%), limb fracture (23.8%) and non-specific limb conditions (26.7%). The services data set contains a total of 4.2 million cleaned and harmonised services including doctors (29.9%), physical therapists (56.3%), psychological therapists (2.8%), diagnostic procedures (5.5%) and examinations and assessments (5.6%). The medicines data set contains 524,380 medicine dispenses, with 208,504 (39.8%) dispenses for opioid analgesics. Conclusions: The development of this database presents potential opportunities to gain a greater understanding of health service use in the Australian workers{\textquoteright} compensation sector, to measure the impact of policy change on health services and to provide a method for further data harmonisation. Future efforts could seek to conduct linkage with other data sources.",
keywords = "database, health services research, injury, low back pain, medical care, work incapacity, Workers{\textquoteright} compensation",
author = "{Di Donato}, Michael and Sheehan, {Luke R.} and Shannon Gray and Ross Iles and {van Vreden}, Caryn and Alex Collie",
note = "Funding Information: Workers{\textquoteright} compensation schemes also fund any healthcare or rehabilitation services or medicines deemed reasonable and necessary for worker recovery in addition to income support. The availability of funding for healthcare often extends beyond the end of income support. Workers may still access healthcare outside the workers{\textquoteright} compensation scheme via other funding sources. The Australian government operates the MBS and Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS): national health insurance systems with subsidised healthcare regulated and funded by the national government and operated through private and local government entities. Healthcare may also be funded by the worker from out-of-pocket expenses or private health insurance. Workers{\textquoteright} compensation healthcare funding provides full coverage of healthcare costs (i.e. avoiding gap payments), allows injured workers faster access to healthcare (i.e. avoiding wait times common in publicly funded non-emergency healthcare) and greater flexibility in choice of healthcare provider. In some Australian jurisdictions, workers or their employer are responsible for funding the initial healthcare costs in an episode of work incapacity (typically about the first ∼AUD$ 800) before the compensation scheme funds further expenditure. Further detailed information about Australian workers{\textquoteright} compensation schemes is published elsewhere. , – , Funding Information: The following organisations supplied data for using the study: WorkSafe Victoria, WorkCover Queensland, Queensland Office of Industrial Relations, ReturnToWork South Australia, WorkCover Western Australia, and Comcare. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the data providers or study funders. The authors would like to thank the jurisdictional representatives and members of the COMPARE project advisory group for their support in gaining access to data and helpful input throughout the project so far. The authors would also like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance, advice and input of Dr Ting Xia, Professor Rachelle Buchbinder, Dr Yi-Lee Phang, Ms Dianne Beck and Dr Tyler Lane. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: MDD received a Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship Stipend from the Australian Government during this project and is supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence on Low Back Pain (1171459). AC is supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant (DP190102473) and an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT190100218). SG is supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE220100456). Funding for this project was provided by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP10102473) and by Safe Work Australia. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2023.",
year = "2023",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1177/20552076231176695",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
pages = "1--15",
journal = "Digital Health",
issn = "2055-2076",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",
}
