For Immediate Release

$2.7 Million in Grants Awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Improve Workers' Compensation Medical Care Systems

Worcester, MA, May 18, 1998-- Eight new grants totaling nearly $2.7 million have been awarded in the second round of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Workers' Compensation Health Initiative. The grants support demonstration projects and evaluation studies aimed at innovations in the delivery and financing of medical care provided for occupational injuries and illnesses covered under workers' compensation insurance, an area being transformed by managed care, private market intiatives, and state reform legislation.
"All of the projects receiving grants are ultimately aimed at improving the quality of care provided to injured workers," commented national program director Jay Himmelstein, MD, MPH, Assistant Chancellor for Health Policy at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. "Although workers' compensation costs in most states have declined during the past three years, interest in creating new models for workers' compensation medical care remains strong," according to Himmelstein.
The funded projects span various health care approaches and organizational structures including community-based coalitions, a union-based health center, development of national performance measures, enhanced case management for federal workers, and programs to more closely coordinate the medical care provided under workers' compensation and general (non-compensation) health plans. Allard Dembe, ScD, the program's Deputy Director, expects that these projects will shed new light on the impact of recent changes in workers' compensation medical care; "We anticipate that the evaluation studies conducted under this grant program will provide policymakers with important information about the impact of these approaches on costs, medical outcomes, patient experiences, and quality of care."
The most recent grants supplement $3 million previously awarded to ten projects under the initiative's first round of funding in November 1996. "These grant projects can shed light on what works best in the workers' compensation setting and provide us with an indication about whether similar medical and disability management techniques can be applied more broadly in the general health arena," said Beth Stevens, PhD, senior program officer at the Foundation. "This initiative fits well with the Foundation's general interest in supporting programs that assure access to appropriate medical treatment and improve care for people with chronic health conditions."
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, located in Princeton, New Jersey, was established as a national philanthropy in 1972 and today is the largest U.S. Foundation devoted to health care. The Foundation's primary mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. Its grantmaking activities are concentrated in three areas:

  • to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost;
  • to improve the way services are organized and provided to people with chronic health conditions; and
  • to reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse--tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

Grantees (Project listed by Lead Agency)