Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
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J. Occup. Environ. Med. · Aug 1999
Distinctive emergency department usage for injury for workers' compensation cases in Utah in 1996.
To compare emergency department services paid by worker's compensation (WC) with services paid by other payers, a state database of 72,747 emergency department visits for injured adults (ages 21 to 54) in 1996 in Utah was analyzed. WC visits accounted for 21.6% (15,704) of all adult injury visits. ⋯ Differences were also found between these groups for Injury Severity Scores and diagnoses. In summary, WC emergency department usage was associated with less severe injuries than was emergency department usage for other payers in Utah in 1996.