Factors Associated with the Timing of Initial Visit to Healthcare Providers for Injured Workers with Low Back Pain Claims: A Multijurisdiction Retrospective Cohort

TL;DR

This study examines factors influencing how quickly injured workers with low back pain seek healthcare, finding that gender and type of provider affect timing.

Contribution

The study identifies specific occupational and contextual factors associated with the timing of initial healthcare visits for low back pain claims across multiple jurisdictions.

Findings

Female workers had shorter times to initial healthcare visits compared to males.

Initial visits to musculoskeletal therapists took twice as long as visits to general practitioners.

Professional workers and those in remote areas experienced delayed initial visits.

Abstract

Evidence shows that patient outcomes following musculoskeletal injury have been associated with the timing of care. Despite the increasing number of injured workers presenting with low back pain (LBP) in primary care, little is known about the factors that are associated with the timing of initial healthcare provider visits. This study investigated factors that are associated with the timing of initial workers’ compensation (WC)-funded care provider visits for LBP claims.

We used a retrospective cohort design. A standardised multi-jurisdiction database of LBP claims with injury dates from July 2011 to June 2015 was analysed. Determinants of the time to initial general practitioner (GPs) and or musculoskeletal (MSK) therapists were investigated using an accelerated failure time model, with a time ratio (TR) > 1 indicating a longer time to initial healthcare provider visit.

9088 LBP claims were included. The median time to first healthcare provider visit was 3 days (interquartile range (IQR) 1–9). Compared to General practitioners (GPs) (median 3 days, IQR 1–8), the timing of initial consultation was longer if the first healthcare providers were MSK therapists (median 5 days, IQR 2–14) (p < 0.001). Female workers had a shorter time to first healthcare provider visit [TR = 0.87; 95% CI (0.78, 0.97)] compared to males. It took twice as long to see MSK therapists first as it did to see GPs for injured workers [TR = 2.12; 95% CI (1.88, 2.40)]. Professional workers and those from remote areas also experienced delayed initial healthcare provider visits.

The time to initial healthcare provider visit for compensable LBP varied significantly by certain occupational and contextual factors. Further research is needed to investigate the impact of the timing of initial visits to healthcare providers on claim outcomes.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10926-025-10268-5.

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