全球智库信息集成服务系统

Abstract

The rating system that California used until recently to rank the severity of permanently disabling workplace injuries and to assign workers’ compensation benefits was highly controversial. RAND evaluated California’s system and found that it worked well in that those who were most severely impaired received the highest ratings and thus the most benefits. However, the ratings were not consistent for impairments that were judged to be similarly severe but that affected different body parts. And ratings were inconsistent among physicians examining the same impairment. Recent reforms might improve the system, but they should be monitored to ensure that both workers and employers benefit from the reforms.

When workers suffer a permanently disabling injury at the workplace, they are usually eligible to receive workers’ compensation permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits. In California and in other states, workers with injuries considered to be severe are entitled to higher benefits than workers with injuries considered to be less severe. This characteristic of PPD benefits necessitates a system for ranking the severity of disabilities. This ranking, called the permanent disability rating, is used to distribute PPD benefits to workers with various types of impairments. In California, injured workers with higher disability ratings are entitled to more benefits than those with lower ratings.