Injured workers mostly satisfied with treatment

By Marc Lifsher

March 19, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Gus Barraza wasn’t happy about getting a sprained thumb on the job, but he was impressed by the care he got at the clinic where his company sent him.

He was clearing a sewer line in Duarte last month when the snake augur he was using hit a root and wrapped around his left thumb. “It was basically a sprained thumb, not broken or fractured, but they took care of me really well,” he said.

Barraza was one of about 780,000 workers in California hurt on the job last year and treated under a state workers’ compensation law that was overhauled in 2004.

Lawmakers, lobbyists and activists spent much of last year wrangling about workers’ comp and its problems for seriously injured workers. A recent survey of workers highlighted the satisfaction of most people hurt on the job and the frustration of others.

A separate survey of healthcare professionals was not so rosy. A majority, including doctors, chiropractors and podiatrists, said they believed that the quality of care given injured workers had declined under the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The survey of 1,001 injured workers concluded that most injured workers received quick, competent medical treatment and were back on the job within three days.

The study was ordered by the state Legislature to gauge whether injured employees’ access to medical care had been curtailed by the landmark workers’ comp overhaul.

The results, said lead investigator Gerald Kominski of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, were consistent with previous surveys. “There’s a high degree of injured worker satisfaction, and there does not appear to be a major decline since the last major study in 1998,” he said.

But the generally upbeat report also had a downside.

Although the majority of patients -- most of whom suffered relatively minor injuries -- said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their care, 22% told surveyors that they were dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with their treatment.

That means that 172,000 injured workers might have had bad experiences with the $22-billion-a-year workers’ comp insurance system in 2006.

“It is a lot of people, and it is a large percentage,” Kominski said. “It merits further investigation.”

Employers, whose workers’ comp insurance rates have been cut in half since 2003, call the survey results encouraging.

“While there are problems that may need special treatment, the delivery of medical care is working well,” said Jerry Azevedo, a spokesman for the Workers’ Compensation Action Network, an employers’ group that represents Safeway Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp., Home Depot Inc. and a number of statewide trade associations.

But advocates for injured workers said they remained concerned about the large percentage of workers who said they were unhappy with the system.

“The study says that everything is hunky-dory. But I think it was poorly done and raises questions that were not covered by the study such as ‘Why are minorities complaining?’ ” said Linda Atcherley, president of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Assn., which represents specialized lawyers who represent injured employees in the state’s workers’ compensation courts.

Atcherley said she was particularly troubled by the study’s findings that African American, Latino and Asian American patients were more likely to report that they did not receive quality care than were whites.

Atcherley said she was not surprised that most injured workers said they got prompt attention for minor medical problems. She said she was troubled, however, that 13.5% of respondents in the survey said they were not able to get proper care, and 55% said they had not fully recovered a year after their injury.

Atcherley also said she was concerned about a separate part of the study in which a majority of surveyed healthcare providers said they believed that the quality of care given to injured workers had declined under Schwarzenegger. According to the study, 65% of medical providers believe that care for injured workers had declined since 2004.

The doctors’ claims are at odds with the responses from injured workers, said Carrie Nevans, acting administrative director of the state Division of Workers’ Compensation.

Nevertheless, she said her department was addressing the complaints by creating a system of stiff fines for insurance companies that unnecessarily deny doctors’ recommendations for care.

The division also has speeded reimbursements to medical providers and plans to reduce paperwork requirements on doctors, she said.

“We really want everybody to get prompt medical treatment and get back to work,” Nevans said. “Where people experience impediments, we want to look into it.”

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Survey results

A survey of workers highlighted the satisfaction of many people with healthcare but also the frustration of others.

Injured worker overall satisfaction in 2006 with California healthcare

Satisfied: 46%

Very satisfied: 32%

Dissatisfied: 16%

Very Dissatisfied: 6%

Injured workers’ reasons for dissatisfaction with care

Did not get needed care: 63%

Condition did not improve: 41%