Workers' comp costs are linked to depression
Depression screening is cost-effective
Three factors depression, stress and obesity together account for about half of the variance in the average workers' compensation cost per case at PPG Industries. That is based on data from health risk assessments completed by several thousand of the company's employees, and analysis of five years of workers' compensation claims at 35 worksites, according to Alberto M. Colombi, MD, MPH, medical director.
"Depression screening is the most important tool that can be promoted in the realm of mental well-being," says Colombi. "It has direct bearings on occupational health and productivity. We found that the percentage of people that screen positive for depression, together with other factors, has an important impact on overall worker's compensation costs."
The findings indicate that depression is a contributing factor in a multi-factorial process, not the sole factor affecting workers' compensation. "Treating depression as a linear and isolated factor is a serious mistake, in my opinion," says Colombi.
When depression, obesity, and stress are all set at their median level, the average payment for a workers' compensation case was found to be $4,612. However, if obesity prevalence at that worksite increases from its median of 0.34 to .05, the cost increases 84% to $8,519.
Conversely, if the proportion of workers reporting a neutral stress and satisfaction score improved from the median of .33 to .45, the average cost per case would decrease by 63%, to $2,918. Finally, if all other factors remained unchanged, and the percentage of workers screened for depression at a worksite was increased from its medial level of 0.25 to 0.45, that would decrease the average payment to $2,425, or 53%.
In order to determine your own return on investment from depression screening, Colombi says you need to understand three things. First, you need to know the relationship between depression and workers' compensation costs at your workplace. Secondly, you need to determine the investment required to prevent or treat depression. Lastly, compute the relationship between the financial investment and the benefits resulting from it.
"How much does it cost to increase depression screening from a quarter to half of the worksite population?" asks Colombi. "There are direct costs and indirect costs involved in this."
The direct costs are due to adding a patient health questionnaire including depression to an online health risk assessment, which Colombi says involved a one-time programming fee of $5,000. The indirect costs involved adding depression screening to the wellness programs already in place at each worksite. That cost, for PPG, was $25 per employee per year.
Thus, Colombi estimates that to reduce the average worker's compensation cost per employee by 50%, "you would need to invest $25 per employee to have a worker's compensation payment per employee saving of $500."
Sources
For more information on the benefits of mental health screening in the workplace, contact:
- Alberto Colombi, MD, MPH, Corporate Medical Director, PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA. Phone: (412) 434-3111. Fax: (412) 434-2014. E-mail: [email protected].
- Nancy W. Spangler, MS, OTR/L, President, Spangler Associates Inc., Leawood, KS. Phone: (816) 820-1870. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.mentalhealthscreening.org.
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