Improving the effectiveness of sickness benefit case management through a public-private partnership? A difference-in-difference analysis in eighteen Danish municipalities

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Malene Rode Larsen¹  Jan Høgelund²  Birgit Aust³ 

[1] The Danish National Centre for Social Research, Herluf Trolles Gade 11, DK-1052, Copenhagen K, Denmark;The Danish Working Environment Authority, Landskronagade 33, DK-2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark;The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, DK-2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark;

关键词: Denmark;    Effect evaluation;    Hazard rate model;    RTW;    Sickness benefit duration;    Sick leave;    Work resumption;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-017-4236-5

 received in 2016-09-16, accepted in 2017-04-06,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate whether a multidimensional public-private partnership intervention, focussing on improving the quality and efficiency of sickness benefit case management, reduced the sickness benefit duration and the duration until self-support.MethodsWe used a difference-in-difference (DID) design with six intervention municipalities and 12 matched control municipalities in Denmark. The study sample comprised 282,103 sickness benefit spells exceeding four weeks. The intervention group with 110,291 spells received the intervention, and the control group with 171,812 spells received ordinary sickness benefit case management. Using register data, we fitted Cox proportional hazard ratio models, estimating hazard ratios (HR) and confidence intervals (CI).ResultsWe found no joint effect of the intervention on the sickness benefit duration (HR 1.02, CI 0.97–1.07) or the duration until self-support (HR 0.99, CI 0.96–1.02). The effect varied among the six municipalities, with sickness benefit HRs ranging from 0.96 (CI 0.93–1.00) to 1.13 (CI 1.08–1.18) and self-support HRs ranging from 0.91 (CI 0.82–1.00) to 1.11 (CI 1.06–1.17).ConclusionsCompared to receiving ordinary sickness benefit management the intervention had on average no effect on the sickness benefit duration or duration until self-support. However, the effect varied considerably among the six municipalities possibly due to differences in the implementation or the complexity of the intervention.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017