1. 1 Return-to-Work Outcomes for Texas Injured Workers Texas Department of Insurance Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group August 2007

2. 2 Four Areas of Focus For This Report Initial return-to-work rate Sustained return-to-work rate Trends in pre- and post- injury wages Days off work

3. 3 Data Sources Texas Workforce Commission’s wage data for 2001-2006 Medical billing data for 2001-2005 collected by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation Income benefit data and claim data for 2001-2005 collected by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation

4. 4 Measures Initial Return-to-Work (RTW) was computed as the percentage of injured workers back at work for the first time after the injury and this figure was computed at several different points after the injury (six months, one year, one and a half years, two years, and three years). Sustained RTW was computed as the percentage of injured workers who returned and stayed employed for three or more consecutive quarters after the work-related injury. This number was also computed at incremental points after the injury (six months, one year, one and a half years, two years, and three years). Median Number of Days Off Work was calculated using the date of injury, the dates when income benefits began and ended, and wage information.

5. 5 Methods The focus of this study was on workers injured in 2001-2005 who also received Temporary Income Benefits (TIBs). If the TIBs received by an injured worker were equal or greater than 70 percent of the injured worker’s average weekly wage, TDI classified the claims as temporary total disability. If TIBs received were less than 70 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage, TDI classified the claims as temporary partial disability. If a wage was reported in the same quarter as the last total disability income benefit payment, then the last date of total disability benefit payment was considered as the return-to-work date (RTW).

6. 6 Methods-Continued For workers without wages in the quarter when total disability benefits ended, the next quarter with wages was identified as the RTW quarter, and the midpoint of that quarter was considered as the RTW date. If the first quarter with earnings was the quarter following the injury quarter and the worker also earned wages for two or more consecutive quarters, then the first quarter with earnings was considered as RTW quarter. Days off work = RTW date – (Injury date + 8). To adjust for the impact of salary continuation on RTW outcomes, if the first quarter with earnings was the quarter following the injury quarter, and the worker did not earn wages for two or more consecutive quarters, then the next quarter with earnings was considered to be the RTW quarter. Note1: The methods described here were based on previous research conducted by the RAND Institute. See: Reville, Robert T., Leslie Boden, Jeff Biddle, Christopher Mardesich. 2001. “An Evaluation of New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Permanent Partial Disability and Return-To-Work.” Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Note2: Injured workers begin to accrue TIBs on the eighth day of disability. See Sections 408.101 - 408.105, Texas Labor Code.

7. 7 Return-to-Work Rates for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

8. 8 Initial Return-to-Work Rate Injury Year Within 6 Months Post Injury Within 1 Year Post Injury Within 1.5 Years Post Injury Within 2 Years Post Injury Within 3 years Post Injury 2001 70%79%83%85%88% 2002 71%80%84%86%89% 2003 72%81%85% 87%90% 2004 74% 83%86% 88% 2005 75% 84% Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for the First Time 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note 1: The study population includes 329,986 workers injured in 2001-2005 who also received Temporary Income Benefits (TIBs). Note 2: Although the increases of initial RTW rates were small, they were statistically significant at the 0.01 significance level.

9. 9 Initial Return-to-Work Rate Over Time Post Injury Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for the First Time 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note 1: The study population includes 329,986 workers injured in 2001-2004 who also received temporary income benefits (TIBs). Note 2: Although the increases of initial RTW rates were small, they were statistically significant at the 0.01 significance level. While this reflects a improvement in the percentage of workers who have initially returned to work, the difference is not big enough to conclude that the WC system improved substantially during this time.

10. 10 Initial Return-to-Work Rate Injury Year Within 6 Months Post Injury Within 1 Year Post Injury Within 1.5 Years Post Injury Within 2 Years Post Injury Within 3 years Post Injury 2001 58%62%63% 64% 2002 60%65% 66% 2003 62%66%67% 68% 2004 63%67% 68% 69% 2005 63%67% Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Returned to Their At-Injury Employers 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note 1: The study population includes 329,986 workers injured in 2001-2005 who also received Temporary Income Benefits (TIBs).

11. 11 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate Injury Year Within 6 Months Post Injury Within 1 Year Post Injury Within 1.5 Years Post Injury Within 2 Years Post Injury Within 3 years Post Injury 200161%68%73%76%80% 200262%70%74%77% 81% 2003 64%71% 76%79% 2004 66%73% 78% 2005 68% Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work and Remained for Three Successive Quarters Beginning With the Initial RTW Quarter 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note 1: The study population includes 329,986 workers injured in 2001-2005 who also received temporary income benefits (TIBs).

12. 12 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate With Equal or More Than Pre-Injury Wages Injury Year Within 6 Months Post Injury Within 1 Year Post Injury Within 1.5 Years Post Injury Within 2 Years Post Injury Within 3 years Post Injury 200146% 45% 200245% 2003 45% 2004 47% 2005 50% Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work For Three Successive Quarters and Earned a Wage Equal or More Than Their Pre-injury Wages 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: 46 percent of workers injured in 2001 and who initially returned for three consecutive quarters in the 6 months following the injury quarter actually returned at their full pre-injury wages.

13. 13 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate With 70 to 99 Percent of Pre-Injury Wages Injury Year Within 6 Months Post Injury Within 1 Year Post Injury Within 1.5 Years Post Injury Within 2 Years Post Injury Within 3 years Post Injury 200132%31% 30% 200232% 31% 30% 2003 33%34%32%31% 2004 32%31% 2005 30% Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work For Three Successive Quarters at 70 to 99 Percent of Their Pre-injury Wages 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: 32 percent of workers injured in 2001 and who initially returned for three consecutive quarters in the 6 months following the injury quarter actually returned at 70 to 99 percent of their pre-injury wages.

14. 14 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate With Less Than 70 Percent of Pre-Injury Wages Injury Year Within 6 Months Post Injury Within 1 Year Post Injury Within 1.5 Years Post Injury Within 2 Years Post Injury Within 3 years Post Injury 200123%24% 25% 200222%23%24%25% 2003 22%23% 24% 2004 22% 2005 20% Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work For Three Successive Quarters And Earned a Wage Less Than 70 Percent of Their Pre-injury Wages 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: 23 percent of workers injured in 2001 and who initially returned for three consecutive quarters in the 6 months following the injury quarter actually returned at less than 70 percent of their pre-injury wages.

15. 15 Initial Return-to-Work Rate by Injury Type for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

16. 16 Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Back At Work by Injury Type, 1 - 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Injury Type Injury Years 2001 2002 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury Hand-wrist superficial trauma 87%91%92%87%91%92% Ankle-foot soft tissue 87%91%93%86%91%93% Hand-wrist soft tissue 85%91%93%86%91%93% Hand-wrist nerve compression 84%91%93%84%90%93% Knee internal derangement 84%90%91%83%89%91% Shoulder soft tissue 81%88%90%82%88%91% Multiple soft tissue 80%87%90%79%87%90% Other 80%86%89%80%87%89% Low-back soft tissue 75%83%87%76%84%88% Neck soft tissue 74%81%85%75%83%87% Low back nerve compression 64%75%80%66%76%81%

17. 17 Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Back At Work by Injury Type, 1 - 3 Years Post-Injury-Continued Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Injury Type Injury Years 200320042005 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury Hand-wrist superficial trauma 88%92%94%88%92%87% Ankle-foot soft tissue 87%92%93%88%92%89% Hand-wrist soft tissue 86%92%93%87%92%88% Hand-wrist nerve compression 86%91%94%86%92%86% Knee internal derangement 87%92%93%86%90%89% Shoulder soft tissue 83%89%92%85%90%86% Multiple soft tissue 81%88%90%82%88%87% Unknown 82%88%90%84%89%84% Low-back soft tissue 77%85%88%79%86%81% Neck soft tissue 76%85%88%78%85%79% Low back nerve compression 66%77%82%68%78%70%

18. 18 Initial Return-to-Work Rate by Industry for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

19. 19 Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Back At Work by Industry 1 Year to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “Professional services” include information/finance/insurance, real estate/rental/leasing, professional/scientific/technical services, management of companies and enterprises, administrative/support/waste management/remediation services. “Other services” include repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, religious, grant making, civic, professional and similar organizations, and private households. Industry Type Injury Years 20012002 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury Public administration 94%96%97%93%96%97% Education/health, social assistance 86%90%92%87%91%93% Manufacturing 83%89%92%84%90%93% Wholesale/retail/ transportation/warehousing 83%89%91%84%90%92% Other services 79%86%88%81%88%91% Arts, entertainment, recreation/accommodation, food services 77%85%88%80%86%89% Professional services 77%84%88%77%84%88% Agriculture/forestry/ fishing/hunting 76%82%85%72%82%86% Mining/utilities /construction 71%80%85%72%81%86%

20. 20 Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Back At Work by Industry 1 Year to 3 Years Post-Injury Continued Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “Professional services” include information/finance/insurance, real estate/rental/leasing, professional/scientific/technical services, management of companies and enterprises, administrative/support/waste management/remediation services. “Other services” include repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, religious, grant making, civic, professional and similar organizations, and private households. Industry Type Injury Years 200320042005 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury Public administration 94%96%97%93%96%94% Education/health, social assistance 88%92%94%89%93%89% Manufacturing 85%91%93%87%92%88% Wholesale/retail/ transportation/warehousing 85%91%93%88%92%89% Other services 80%87%91%81%87%83% Arts, entertainment, recreation/accommodation, food services 79%86%89%82%88%83% Professional services 78%86%89%79%87%81% Agriculture/forestry/ fishing/hunting 76%83%86%75%81%77% Mining/utilities /construction 73%82%86%74%84%77%

21. 21 Initial Return-to-Work Rate by Geographic Region for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

22. 22 Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Back At Work by Geographic Region 1 Year to 3 Years Post-Injury Geographic Region Injury Years 20012002 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury West79%86%89%80%87%89% South78%84%87%79%85%88% Central83%88%90%83%89%91% East77%84%87%78%84%87% North80%86%89%81%88%90% Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “West” Texas includes E1 Paso, Midland Odessa, and San Angelo. “South” Texas includes Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, Harlingen, Laredo, San Antonio, Victoria, Missouri City, and Weslaco. “Central” Texas includes Austin, Bryan/College Station, and Waco. “East” Texas includes Beaumont, Lufkin, and Tyler. North includes Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and Wichita Falls. 437 claims without field office information were excluded for analysis.

23. 23 Percentage of Injured Workers Initially Back At Work by Geographic Region 1 Year to 3 Years Post-Injury Continued Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “West” Texas includes E1 Paso, Midland Odessa, and San Angelo. “South” Texas includes Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, Harlingen, Laredo, San Antonio, Victoria, Missouri City, and Weslaco. “Central” Texas includes Austin, Bryan/College Station, and Waco. “East” Texas includes Beaumont, Lufkin, and Tyler. North includes Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and Wichita Falls. 437 claims without field office information were excluded for analysis. Geographic Region Injury Years 200320042005 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury West82%88%90%82%88%83% South80%86%89%82%87%82% Central83%89%91%85%90%86% East80%86%89%82%88%83% North83%89%91%84%90%85%

24. 24 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Injury Type for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

25. 25 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Injury Type Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for Three Successive Quarters, 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: 32,504 claims with missing injury types were classified as “unknown.” Injury Type Injury Years 2001 2002 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury Hand-wrist superficial trauma49%60%67%52%62%68% Ankle-foot soft tissue61%70%74%63%71%77% Hand-wrist soft tissue63%72%77%65%73%78% Hand-wrist nerve compression68%76%81%68%77%82% Knee internal derangement70%77%81%71%78%81% Shoulder soft tissue71%79%84%71%80%84% Multiple soft tissue71%78%82%72%79%83% Other74%82%85%74%83%86% Low-back soft tissue76%82%84%75%82%85% Neck soft tissue78%84%87%77%84%87% Low back nerve compression78%84%86%78%85%87%

26. 26 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Injury Type Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for Three Successive Quarters, 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Continued Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: 32,504 claims with missing injury types were classified as “unknown.” Injury Type Injury Years 20032004 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury Hand-wrist superficial trauma54%64%69%56%65% Ankle-foot soft tissue64%73%78%68%75% Hand-wrist soft tissue66%74%78%68%76% Hand-wrist nerve compression70%79%82%74%80% Knee internal derangement73%80%83%75%81% Shoulder soft tissue75%82%87%75%81% Multiple soft tissue73%81%84%75%81% Unknown76%84%87%78%83% Low-back soft tissue78%84%87%78%83% Neck soft tissue80%85%87%81%86% Low back nerve compression79%84%86%81%86%

27. 27 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Industry for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

28. 28 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Industry Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for Three Successive Quarters, 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “Professional services” include information/finance/insurance, real estate/rental/leasing, professional/scientific/technical services, management of companies and enterprises, administrative/support/waste management/remediation services. “Other services” include repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, religious, grant making, civic, professional and similar organizations, and private households. Industry Type Injury Years 20012002 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury Public administration59%69%74%60%71%75% Education/health, social assistance63%69%74%62%71%76% Manufacturing65%73%78%65%74%78% Wholesale/retail/ transportation/warehousing65%73%78%69%77%80% Other services68%76%80%72%79%83% Arts, entertainment, recreation/accommodation, food services72%79%83%73%81%84% Professional services72%79%83%72%80%84% Agriculture/forestry/ fishing/hunting76%82%85%78%84%86% Mining/utilities /construction87%91%93%87%90%92%

29. 29 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Industry Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for Three Successive Quarters, 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Continued Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “Professional services” include information/finance/insurance, real estate/rental/leasing, professional/scientific/technical services, management of companies and enterprises, administrative/support/waste management/remediation services. “Other services” include repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, religious, grant making, civic, professional and similar organizations, and private households. Industry Type Injury Years 20032004 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury Public administration63%73%77%64%73% Manufacturing66%75%79%69%77% Wholesale/retail/ transportation/warehousing69%76%79%72%78% Other services69%78%82%73%79% Arts, entertainment, recreation/accommodation, food services76%83%85%78%84% Professional services75%82%85%78%84% Agriculture/forestry/ fishing/hunting79%84%86%81%85% Mining/utilities /construction88%91%93%87%91%

30. 30 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Geographic Region for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

31. 31 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Geographic Region Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for Three Successive Quarters, 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “West” Texas includes E1 Paso, Midland Odessa, and San Angelo. “South” Texas includes Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, Harlingen, Laredo, San Antonio, Victoria, Missouri City, and Weslaco. “Central” Texas includes Austin, Bryan/College Station, and Waco. “East” Texas includes Beaumont, Lufkin, and Tyler. “North” Texas includes Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and Wichita Falls. 437 claims without field office information were excluded for analysis. Geographic Region Injury Years 20012002 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury West66%73%77%66%74%78% South68%75%79%69%76%80% Central68%76%80%70%78%81% East69%76%80%70%78%82% North73%79%83%73%80%83%

32. 32 Sustained Return-to-Work Rate by Geographic Region Percentage of Injured Workers Back At Work for Three Successive Quarters, 6 Months to 3 Years Post-Injury Continued Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “West” Texas includes E1 Paso, Midland Odessa, and San Angelo. “South” Texas includes Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, Harlingen, Laredo, San Antonio, Victoria, Missouri City, and Weslaco. “Central” Texas includes Austin, Bryan/College Station, and Waco. “East” Texas includes Beaumont, Lufkin, and Tyler. “North” Texas includes Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and Wichita Falls. 437 claims without field office information were excluded for analysis. Geographic Region Injury Years 20032004 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury 3 Years Post Injury 1 Year Post Injury 2 Years Post Injury West69%76%79%72%78% South71%77%81%73%79% Central72%79%82%74%80% East72%80%83%75%81% North74%81%83%76%82%

33. 33 Wage Trends for the Texas Workers’ Compensation System (as of December, 2006)

34. 34 Wage Comparison Results Overall – In general, from injury years 2001-2005, there were slight improvements in the amount of time it took for injured workers to return to wage levels comparable to their pre-injury wages. For injury years 2001 and 2002, injured workers generally did not return to pre-injury wage levels until more than one year after their injury quarter; however, workers injured in 2003, 2004, 2005 were generally able to return to pre-injury wage levels between 9 and 12 months after their injury quarter. By Injury Type – There were significant differences in pre-injury wages across the injury types. In general, workers with knee internal derangement injuries had the highest median quarterly wages, while workers with hand/wrist superficial trauma injuries had the lowest median quarterly wages. Additionally, there were significant differences across injury types in the time it took injured workers to return to their pre-injury wages. Generally, workers with hand/wrist superficial trauma returned to their pre-injury wages the fastest (1 quarter), while workers with low back, neck and hand/wrist nerve compression injuries returned to their pre-injury wages the slowest.

35. 35 Wage Comparison Results, continued By Industry – There were also significant differences in pre-injury wages across industry sectors. In general workers in public administration had the highest median quarterly wages while workers in arts/accommodation had the lowest median quarterly wages. There were slight differences across industry sectors for the time it took injured workers to return to their pre-injury wages. Generally, workers in agriculture and public administration returned to pre-injury wages the fastest (2-3 quarters), while workers in manufacturing returned to pre-injury wages the slowest (4 to 5 quarters). By Geographic Region – There were significant differences in pre-injury wages across geographic regions. Ranked from the highest median quarterly wage ($7,344) to the lowest median quarterly wage ($5,983), they are north, east, south, central, and west. There were no significant differences across geographic region for the time it took injured workers to return to their pre-injury wages.

36. 36 Median Quarterly Wages (Pre-/Post- Injury) for Injured Workers Receiving Temporary Income Benefits Injury years 2001 - 2005 Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: For the marks on the X-axis, Pre injury quarter means the quarter before the injury quarter, Post1 means the first quarter after injury, and Post2 means the second quarter after the injury quarter.

37. 37 Median Quarterly Wages Injury Yearpreinjurypost1post2post3post4post5post6post7post8Post9Post10Post11post12 2001$5,698$4,658$4,152$5,024$5,366$5,568$5,710$5,800$5,851$5,903$5,969$6,019$6,106$6,200 2002$5,939$4,875$4,376$5,287$5,661$5,862$6,007$6,086$6,211$6,308$6,350$6,435$6,5536,627 2003$6,093$5,045$4,460$5,457$5,912$6,132$6,307$6,427$6,5596,658 6,851 7,000 7,072 7,201 2004$6,271$5,208$4,595$5,634$6,1296,4136,7296,9047,0127,108 20056,5735,3974,9456,1116,5296,880 Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: Pre means the quarter before the injury quarter, Injury means the injury quarter, Post1 means the first quarter after injury, and Post2 means the second quarter after the injury quarter. Median Quarterly Wages (Pre-/Post- Injury) For Injured Workers Receiving Temporary Income Benefits Injury Years 2001 - 2005

38. 38 Days Off Work (as of December, 2006)

39. 39 Mean and Median Days Off Work for Injured Workers Who RTW At Some Point Post Injury Injury Years 2001-2004 Injury Year Mean days off work Median days off work 200115032 200214232 200313931 2004111*26* Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note1: The mean and median days off work in 2004 may be under-estimated due to data maturity and should be viewed with caution. Note2: “Days Off Work” was defined as days from the injury date to the initial RTW date. Please note that these numbers do not take into account any additional time off work that may have occurred after the initial RTW date. Note3: The analysis was based on the claimants who returned to work, and did not include those who did not return by the end of 2006. Injury year 2005 was excluded because of insufficient data.

40. 40 Mean and Median Days Off Work for Injured Workers Who RTW at Some Point Post Injury by Injury Type, Injury Years 2001-2004 Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Injury TypeMean days off workMedian days off work Hand/wrist superficial trauma7920 Ankle/foot soft tissue8922 Unknown11426 Multiple soft tissue13028 Other11828 Low back soft tissue14329 Knee internal derangement11429 Shoulder soft tissue13329 Hand/wrist soft tissue12730 Neck soft tissue15532 Hand/wrist nerve compression16637 Low back nerve compression20074

41. 41 Mean and Median Days Off Work for Injured Workers Who RTW at Some Point Post-Injury by Industry, Injury Years 2001-2004 IndustryMean days off workMedian days off work Public administration7421 Education/health, social assistance9624 Wholesale/retail/ transportation/warehousing11326 Manufacturing12328 Arts, entertainment, recreation/accommodation, food services13429 Other services13530 Professional services15132 Agriculture/forestry/ fishing/hunting15234 Mining/utilities/constructions16635 Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “Professional services” include information/finance/insurance, real estate/rental/leasing, professional/scientific/technical services, management of companies and enterprises, administrative/support/waste management/remediation services. “Other services” include repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, religious, grant making, civic, professional and similar organizations, and private households.

42. 42 Source: Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, 2007. Note: “West” Texas includes E1 Paso, Midland Odessa, and San Angelo. “South” Texas includes Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, Harlingen, Laredo, San Antonio, Victoria, Missouri City, and Weslaco. “Central” Texas includes Austin, Bryan/College Station, and Waco. “East” Texas includes Beaumont, Lufkin, and Tyler. “North” Texas includes Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and Wichita Falls. 437 claims without field office information were excluded for analysis. RegionMean days off workMedian days off work Central10625 South12427 East13028 North12929 West13531 Mean and Median Days Off Work for Injured Workers Who RTW at Some Point Post-Injury by Geographic Region, Injury Years 2001-2004

43. 43 Summary About 70 to 75 percent of workers returned to work at some point within two quarters (approximate 6 months) after the injury quarter. About 61 to 68 percent of workers returned and retained employment for three or more successive quarters. For those who returned for three or more successive quarters, only about 45 percent of them returned to their pre-injury wage. About 64 to 69 percent of workers returned initially to their employers for whom they worked at the time of the injury. About 12 to 15 percent of injured workers had not returned to work two years after the injury quarter. For the workers who returned and retained employment for three or more successive quarters, about 25 percent of them returned with wages less than 70 percent of their pre-injury wages. Workers with hand-wrist superficial trauma and ankle-foot soft tissue injuries generally returned to work faster than workers with other injuries. About 87 percent of those workers returned to work at some point within one year after the injury quarter and 91 percent returned within two years after the injury quarter.

44. 44 Summary-Continued Workers with low-back nerve compression injuries returned to work much slower than workers with other injuries. Only about 66 percent of them returned to work at some point within one year after the injury quarter. About 76 percent of them returned within two years after the injury quarter. Workers in public administration returned to work fastest. Workers in mining/utilities/construction returned much slower than workers in other industries. There were significant differences across regions in terms of initial bi-quarter RTW rates. Ranked from the highest to the lowest, they are central, north, west, south, east. From 2001 to 2005, the initial RTW rate and sustained RTW rate have been on an increasing trend. It took about one year for the median of quarterly wages to return to the pre-injury level. There were significant differences across injury types for the time it took the injured workers to return to their pre-injury wages.

45. 45 Summary-Continued Although the differences in quarterly median wages across industries and across geographic regions were significant, the patterns at which wages returned to their pre-injury levels were quite similar. The median days off work have decreased slightly from 32 days for workers injured in 2001 to approximate 31 days for workers injured in 2003. Significant differences exist in median days off work across injury types: from 20 days for hand-wrist superficial injuries to 74 days for low-back nerve compression. Moderate differences in median days off work across industries ranged from 21 days in public administration to 35 days in mining/utilities/construction. Small differences in median days off work across regions: from 25 days in central to 31 days in west.