Utilization of Tennessee Workers' Compensation Data for Injury Surveillance and Prevention

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):Project Summary [With this application for PAR-14-227, the Construction Industry Research and Policy Center (CIRPC) at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) seeks to undertake a project to improve occupational injury surveillance using existing workers' compensation (WC) data. We have assembled a multidisciplinary advisory team from medicine, public health, and the academic community and supplement our own resources with a consultant experienced with WC First Report of Injury (FROI) claims, and denominator employment data. With this collaboration we expect to gain insight for health improvements at the intersections of public and occupational health. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) maintains a database of 68 variables (see Appendix A) from 120,000 annual medical and indemnity claims as First Report of Injury (FROI) information. This data is has great potential to supplement existing data sources in occupational health surveillance. After eliminating personally identifiable information and other non-essential variables, we will collect three years of data for the enumeration of injury counts and subsequent calculation of injury rates based on industry and establishment size for the private sector. By linking this data with the state's Unemployment Insurance (UI) database through the Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), reliable data can be obtained on injury counts for NAICS industries and establishment size strata. Going further, we can use the NAICS linkage to determine industry employment through the use of databases such as the QCEW, CPS, and ACS. We will combine the state count data and publically accessible employment determinants to calculate injury rates and create prioritization indices as part of a final report document. This report can provide immediate returns by identifying focus areas for targeted intervention in critical industries (e.g. fall protection in construction) or injury prevention for common maladies across industries (e.g. musculoskeletal injuries). Longer term benefits are expected to result from a database containing the key industry, event, and illness/injury information. The database will enable subsequent research and inform industry educational efforts. Most importantly, we expect this project to be the impetus for destroying the silos currently existing between the various state agencies and the academic community within the state. ]