To examine barriers community health centers (s) face in using workers' compensation insurance ().
Data Sources/Study Setting
Leadership of s in assachusetts.
We used purposeful snowball sampling of leaders for in‐depth exploration of reimbursement policies and practices, experiences with , and decisions about using . We quantified the prevalence of perceived barriers to using through a mail survey of all s in Massachusetts.
Data Collection/Extraction Methods
Emergent coding was used to elaborate themes and processes related to use of . Numbers and percentages of survey responses were calculated.
Few s formally discourage use of , but underutilization emerged as a major issue: “We see an awful lot of work‐related injury, and I would say that most of it doesn't go through workers' comp.” Barriers include lack of familiarity with , uncertainty about work‐relatedness, and reliance on patients to identify work‐relatedness of their conditions. Reimbursement delays and denials lead patients and s to absorb costs of services.
Follow‐up studies should fully characterize barriers to use of and experiences in other states to guide system changes in s and agencies. Education should target staff and workers about .
