Scherzer Teresa, Newcomer Robert
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California 94118, USA.
Am J Ind Med. 2007 Jul;50(7):536-44. doi: 10.1002/ajim.20473.
Personal Assistance Services (PAS) workers provide essential support to disabled and elderly individuals living at home rather than institutions. Occupational injury risks are known, but limitations in occupational injury surveillance prevent assessing injury prevalence. Changing employment arrangements adopted by publicly funded programs may complicate the classification of PAS workers.
We surveyed state workers' compensation agencies and Financial Management Services organizations used by state Medicaid programs.
Changing employment arrangements pose further barriers to classifying and documenting injury, and accessing workers' compensation coverage. Workers' Compensation coverage varies according to employment arrangements of the PAS workers. Financial Management Services organizations vary in their roles for reporting injury. Most frequent activities were providing written information about injury reporting, and reporting injuries to appropriate agencies or insurance companies.
Current limitations undercount the prevalence and consequences of PAS-related occupational injuries among agency workers and largely ignore independent providers. Policy and research recommendations are presented.
个人协助服务（PAS）工作者为居家而非居住在机构中的残疾人和老年人提供必要支持。职业伤害风险是已知的，但职业伤害监测的局限性阻碍了对伤害发生率的评估。公共资助项目采用的不断变化的就业安排可能会使PAS工作者的分类变得复杂。
我们对州工人赔偿机构以及州医疗补助项目所使用的财务管理服务组织进行了调查。
不断变化的就业安排给伤害的分类、记录以及获得工人赔偿覆盖范围带来了进一步的障碍。工人赔偿覆盖范围因PAS工作者的就业安排而异。财务管理服务组织在伤害报告方面的作用各不相同。最常见的活动是提供有关伤害报告的书面信息，以及向适当机构或保险公司报告伤害情况。
当前的局限性低估了机构工作人员中与PAS相关的职业伤害的发生率和后果，并且很大程度上忽视了独立提供者。本文提出了政策和研究建议。
