When developing effective claims programs for workers’ comp, a finely tuned user research process is a crucial tool in ensuring that stakeholders across the board all benefit from the solutions that are implemented.
Stereotypes and assumptions surrounding the wants and needs of injured workers, claims professionals, payers, and other stakeholders stand in the way of effective solution building. Only a true understanding of their experience in the workers’ comp system can highlight negative interactions or gaps that serve as a barrier to positive claims outcomes.
Healthesystems recognizes the importance of an evidence-based, structured approach to identifying the needs, challenges and preferences of different stakeholders as they navigate the workers’ comp system, which is why our user research program regularly inserts research capabilities throughout our innovation pipeline. The insights we gather from these initiatives help inform the development of new solutions and the improvement of existing solutions, to better serve our clients and the workers’ comp insurance market.
We currently have multiple in-depth research initiatives underway, including a continued and concerted focus on the patient experience – the detailed findings of which we make available to our customers. Here we share three high-level findings that identify areas where the industry can improve patient experience and program outcomes.
#1. There is a Need to Improve the Intake Process
According to our findings, 50% of patients experienced a delay in reporting their injuries. This occurred for a variety of reasons, including:
- Fear of negative consequences for reporting an injury
- Stigma around workers’ comp patients across various stakeholders
- Plans for self-care
- Lack of direction from employers and insurers
- Approximately 25% of patients faced complications with receiving initial paperwork or being asked to deliver intake information via a channel they did not have access to, such as the need to scan or print documents.
To read the full article for more research insights, visit WorkCompWire online, where this article was originally published.
