Reducing Workplace Absenteeism Caused by Work Stress in a Health Maintenance Organization Department of Psychiatry.

Introduction: It is well established that work stress is a major economic burden not only in lost work productivity but also in increased health care utilization and costs. However, there is little research into effective treatment models for work stress.

Objective: To retrospectively examine the effectiveness of a psychiatric pilot quality improvement program in improving the return-to-work rate in patients in a health maintenance organization who had work stress and took medical leave from work.