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

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.

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.

A health maintenance organization's Department of Psychiatry developed a pilot quality improvement program that reviewed a new program of group psychotherapy and specialty mental health treatment targeting patients who self-identified as having work stress and who requested medical leave from work. The retrospective data were collected from the electronic medical record.

Of the 166 patients who participated in the Work Recovery Group program, 141 (85%) returned to work and did not have any days off after the Work Recovery Group within the 11-month analysis. Involvement in the group also was associated with improvement in self-reported symptom severity, with a 4.5-point decrease in the average score on the Adult Outcomes Questionnaire about depression and anxiety.

This is the first known treatment program from a health maintenance organization to provide data on return-to-work outcomes. By providing specialty mental health treatment and getting patients back to work more quickly, this program has potential to reduce mental health service utilization. These results show promise for program expansion and have broader implications for health care organizations and employers.