Michael Dworsky

The joint U. S. Department of Defense (DoD)-Department of Veterans Affairs Integrated Disability Evaluation System is the process by which DoD determines fitness for duty and separation or retirement because of disability. In this report, the authors evaluate four hypothetical alternative DoD disability compensation approaches that would support a simpler disability evaluation process by reducing reliance on disability ratings.

California's Return-to-Work Supplement Program (RTWSP) is a new benefit for permanently disabled workers who suffer disproportionately high earnings loss in comparison with their workers' compensation benefits. The RTWSP provides a one-time $5,000 payment to workers who cannot return to work following a permanently disabling workplace injury. RAND researchers evaluated the program's performance and identified options for improving the RTWSP.

Workers' compensation stakeholders question how well the system promotes occupational safety and health (OSH). It is also not clear how much consensus there is about the specific challenges to OSH and worker well-being in the system or how to address them. This RAND report explores the views of key stakeholders about system challenges and research priorities for reforming workers' compensation systems to promote OSH and the well-being of workers.

This report describes the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) effects on nonelderly veterans' insurance coverage and demand for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and assesses the coverage and VA utilization changes that could result from repealing the ACA.

Following California s 2012 bill to enact major reforms to the state workers compensation system, RAND researchers assess trends in earnings loss and permanent partial disability benefits between 2005 and 2012, including analysis of the Great Recession s impact on outcomes for injured workers, and examine how the reforms might affect injury compensation going forward."