Establishing Accountability to Reduce Job Loss After Injury or Illness

This is one of three policy action papers prepared as part of the Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work Policy Collaborative, an initiative funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy in the U.S. Department of Labor. Each year, millions of workers in the United States lose their jobs or leave the workforce after a medical condition disrupts their ability to work. Keeping these workers in the labor force could help them stay productive, maintain their standard of living, and avoid dependency on government programs. In this paper, we present actionable policy recommendations for keeping more people at work by (1) establishing the preservation or restoration of work and full participation in life as key outcomes and important indicators of the value delivered by medical care and other health-related services; (2) making health care delivery organizations, employers, and insurers—three key stakeholders that directly influence those outcomes—more accountable; and (3) designing and implementing strategies to make the accountability effective, disrupt the current status quo, and deliver transformational social change.