Predicting back pain treatment outcomes among workers' compensation patients: important information for clinical neuropsychologists.

Low back pain is an increasingly prevalent and costly issue in the United States. It is a particularly relevant problem for Workers' Compensation patients, who typically experience worse surgical and functional outcomes than their non-compensated counterparts. Neuropsychologists often provide intervention and assessment services to compensated patients with back pain, and thus it is critical they possess a basic understanding of the factors that might predispose an injured worker to poor spine surgery outcomes.

Predicting compensation and medical costs of lumbar fusion patients receiving workers' compensation in utah using presurgical biopsychosocial variables.

Study Design: A retrospective-cohort investigation (N = 245) utilizing a review of patient medical records and costs accrued through the Workers' Compensation Fund of Utah.

Objective: To replicate a previous study of compensation and medical costs in compensated lumbar fusion patients, to identify changes in costs across time, and to identify biopsychosocial variables predictive of current costs.

Summary Of Background Data: Previous studies have demonstrated that medical costs associated with lumbar fusion have been rising drastically.

Presurgical biopsychosocial variables predict medical, compensation, and aggregate costs of lumbar discectomy in Utah workers' compensation patients.

Background Context: Elective lumbar discectomy among injured workers is a prevalent spine surgery that often requires a lengthy rehabilitation. It is important to determine presurgical biopsychosocial predictors of compensation and medical costs in such patients.

Purpose: To determine if presurgical biopsychosocial variables are predictive of compensation and medical costs in a cohort of Utah patients who have undergone open or microlumbar discectomy that are receiving workers' compensation.