Outcomes for Injured Workers

Since the 2004 reforms, the average return-to-work rate for injured workers has increased by 5 percent and by as much as 11 percent for injuries to certain body parts, such as spine and knee. According to the DWC, 70 percent of workers injured during the first six months of 2005 were working within 12 months of their injury. According to the RAND Corporation, the 12-month return-to-work rate is a "strong predictor of the long-term economic outcomes of disabled workers."

California's system has also improved dramatically in providing a key wage replacement benefit to injured workers. Due to benefit caps that existed prior to 2003, 20 percent of temporarily disabled workers were not receiving benefits equal to two-thirds of their weekly wages, which is the target for such benefits. As a result of recent benefit increases, that number has dropped to 3 percent, meaning that the system is replacing two-thirds of wages, tax free, to 97 percent of all temporarily injured workers.

According to the DWC, the improved return-to-work rates and increased temporary disability benefits are important factors in measuring the wage loss of permanently injured workers. In 2007, the DWC undertook a three-part analysis of wage loss by body part under California's old and new, impairment-based rating schedule. Although the DWC found that the new schedule was "somewhat effective in reducing the disparity in compensation between parts of body," it has proposed regulations to bring greater equity to how modifiers for age and future earning capacity are applied to impairment ratings, as well as to increase the future earning capacity modifier for all injuries. This change would increase average PD benefits by 16 percent.

Injured workers continue to have access to quality medical care. In a survey of 1,000 injured workers on medical treatment issues, the DWC found that the "vast majority of injured workers have access to quality care." According to the survey, 83 percent of injured workers report being able to access quality medical care, and 78 percent report being satisfied or very satisfied with the care they received for their injuries. The DWC noted that satisfaction levels were similar to those reported in previous surveys conducted before the introduction of evidence-based medicine and treatment guidelines to California's workers' compensation system.