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Original Research: Jong Uk Won and Allard E. Dembe Services Provided by Family Physicians for Patients With Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Ann Fam Med 2006; 4: 138-147 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Electronic letters published:

Occupational Care by Family Physicians

Tim E. Eckstein   (31 March 2006)

Occupational Care by Family Physicians 31 March 2006
Tim E. Eckstein, Bay City, MI USA Occupational Medicine and Family Medicine: Medical Director of Bay Occupational Services Send response to journal: Re: Occupational Care by Family Physicians	The premise for this study as well as the statistical analysis appears quite ambitious. The data available for analysis, however, does not result in conclusions that are convincing for this reader. This article appropriately invites much more extensive research. The visits among the various categories are not stratified according to appropriateness of care, intensity of service, quality of care, or cost effectiveness. Other issues that could be addressed to lend credibilty to this pursuit would be: 1. Develop an examination of fair, equitable, and efficient means of charting, coding and reimbursement methods for treating a patient for both work related and non-work related issues during a single encounter; 2. Examine the scope of capabilities of family physicians as determined by training in the occuptional medicine core competencies. I enjoyed reading this article and hope to see more on this subject. Competing interests:   None declared