The leading cause of
long-term disability (more than 90 days) for working-age Americans was cancer,
according to claims submitted during 2001 to UnumProvident (NYSE: UNM), the
leader in income protection insurance.
Rounding out the Top 5 List
for long-term disability (LTD) causes are pregnancy complications, back and
cardiovascular conditions, and depression. Â
The list comes from UnumProvident´s extensive claims database, the
largest private database of disability information in the U.S.
Leading the list of Top 5
causes of short-term disability (STD) workplace absence for 2001 was pregnancy
(normal), followed by complications from pregnancy, injuries (excluding back),
back conditions and digestive/intestinal conditions.
The causes of claims and the
percentage received for each cause were as follows:
           LTD -             13 percent - Cancer
                                  12
percent - Complications from Pregnancy
                                  11 percent - Back
                                   9 percent -
Cardiovascular
                                   5 percent -
Depression
           STD -             20 percent - Pregnancy (Normal)
                                   9 percent - Pregnancy (Complications)
                                   9 percent - Injuries (Excluding Back)
                                   8 percent - Back
                                   8 percent - Digestive/Intestinal
UnumProvident receives more
than 400,000 new disability income protection claims a year, 25 percent
of which involve long-term disability. Â
The company pays out approximately $3.6 billion in disability benefits
annually.
To best
meet the needs of long-term claimants, UnumProvident works from a claim
management model that is supported by strong clinical resources and organized
around specific illness or impairment types. Â
The company´s Customer Care Center has five key specialty units: cancer,
cardiac, orthopedic, psychiatric, and general medical. Â "Our long term claims are managed by people
who specialize based on the type of medical condition rather than handling claims
based on geographic area or policy type," said Ralph Mohney, senior vice
president, Return To Work Services. Â
"Our Customer Care specialists, nurse case managers, physicians and
vocational rehabilitation consultants are experts in the recovery and return-to-work
potential of conditions within their units as they work with just these type of
conditions all day long, every day."
In
addition to expert claim management services for individuals, the depth and
scale of UnumProvident´s Customer Care organization enables it to provide
outstanding support for employers who are focused on maintaining productivity
in challenging economic times. Â "In our
case, scale makes a difference. Â The
sheer number of cases we manage at any given time, combined with the largest
private disability database in the world compiled from managing this volume of
business, allow us to predict disability trends more accurately than other
organizations," explained Ken Mitchell, head of Corporate Return To Work
Program Development, a consultative service that helps employers develop and
implement corporate policies and practices supporting return-to-work efforts.
"Through our ongoing study
and analysis of the information and sharing of it with our customers as it
applies to their situations, we help employers predict, plan for and -
hopefully - prevent patterns of disability that might otherwise have a negative
impact on their employees and their productivity," said Ken.