HYPERLIPIDEMIA’S HIDDEN REAL WORLD IMPACT ON WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS IN THE UNITED STATES
Author(s)
Richard A. Brook, MBA, MS1, Stephen A Schramm, MA2, Alek A Drnach, MS2, Eric M. Rosenberg, MA, MA3;
1Better Health Worldwide, President (BH-WW), Newfoundland, NJ, USA, 2WorkPartners, LLC, Integrated Analytics, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 3Workpartners LLC, Integrated Analytics, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
1Better Health Worldwide, President (BH-WW), Newfoundland, NJ, USA, 2WorkPartners, LLC, Integrated Analytics, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 3Workpartners LLC, Integrated Analytics, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
OBJECTIVES: Workers’ Compensation (WC) analyses are frequently all-cause which overlooks the variation in claim rates and outcomes driven by industry and employer' safety culture. We analyzed the impact of Hyperlipidemia (HLP) on employer WC claim rates, complexities of WC claims analyses, and specific claim reasons.
METHODS: Employees from large employers in the Healthcare, Power, Retail, and Manufacturing sectors in Workpartners Research Reference Database (RRDb) were analyzed (Aug-2022—Jul-2025). Employees with ≥1 year of continuous healthplan and WC eligibility were assigned to younger (18-49) and older (50-65) age groups then split into HLP (≥2 prior HLP claims) or control cohorts. Controls with claims for any of 43 chronic conditions were excluded. WC claim incidence, medical and indemnity cost, and lost-time were calculated for each cohort and age-band.
RESULTS: 54,155 employees met study criteria with 22,950 older employees (42%: Healthcare=8,958, Power=4,171, Retail=4,219, Manufacturing=2,616). Annualized WC lost-time claims/10,000 employees were higher for those with HLP in all sectors for older employees, and significantly higher in HLP vs controls for Retail (42 vs 6,P=0.048) and Manufacturing (19 vs 2,P<.005). Lost-time days were more variable, with low negative values (-5,-4) days in Power and Medical vs 17 days for Retail and 64 for Manufacturing. For younger employees, only Medical had negative lost-time days, and no rate comparisons were statistically significant. Across all industries, the most common body parts affected were shoulders, knees and back, and the most common nature of injury reasons were sprains, followed by fractures, and bruises. High variance in WC lost-time (indemnity) and medical claim costs limited significance.
CONCLUSIONS: Older employees with HLP showed a large (6x-40x) increase in WC lost-time incident rates compared to those without chronic conditions. This marked variation highlights the complexity of analyzing WC data. Future studies may beneftit from regression adjustment to account for company and industry differences.
METHODS: Employees from large employers in the Healthcare, Power, Retail, and Manufacturing sectors in Workpartners Research Reference Database (RRDb) were analyzed (Aug-2022—Jul-2025). Employees with ≥1 year of continuous healthplan and WC eligibility were assigned to younger (18-49) and older (50-65) age groups then split into HLP (≥2 prior HLP claims) or control cohorts. Controls with claims for any of 43 chronic conditions were excluded. WC claim incidence, medical and indemnity cost, and lost-time were calculated for each cohort and age-band.
RESULTS: 54,155 employees met study criteria with 22,950 older employees (42%: Healthcare=8,958, Power=4,171, Retail=4,219, Manufacturing=2,616). Annualized WC lost-time claims/10,000 employees were higher for those with HLP in all sectors for older employees, and significantly higher in HLP vs controls for Retail (42 vs 6,P=0.048) and Manufacturing (19 vs 2,P<.005). Lost-time days were more variable, with low negative values (-5,-4) days in Power and Medical vs 17 days for Retail and 64 for Manufacturing. For younger employees, only Medical had negative lost-time days, and no rate comparisons were statistically significant. Across all industries, the most common body parts affected were shoulders, knees and back, and the most common nature of injury reasons were sprains, followed by fractures, and bruises. High variance in WC lost-time (indemnity) and medical claim costs limited significance.
CONCLUSIONS: Older employees with HLP showed a large (6x-40x) increase in WC lost-time incident rates compared to those without chronic conditions. This marked variation highlights the complexity of analyzing WC data. Future studies may beneftit from regression adjustment to account for company and industry differences.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2026-05, ISPOR 2026, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Value in Health, Volume 29, Issue S6
Code
RWD143
Topic
Real World Data & Information Systems
Topic Subcategory
Health & Insurance Records Systems
Disease
No Additional Disease & Conditions/Specialized Treatment Areas, SDC: Cardiovascular Disorders (including MI, Stroke, Circulatory)