Validation of the Eumass Core Set in Social Insurance

XIX EUMASS Congress 2012 JA 1 VALIDATION OF THE EUMASS CORE SET IN SOCIAL INSURANCE Jessica ANNER, Søren BRAGE, Peter DONCEEL, Fredy FALEZ, Corina OANCEA, Ruediger FREUDENSTEIN, Thomas ZUMBRUNN, Wout DE BOER 1 asim, Academy of Swiss Insurance Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland 2 Department of General Practice and Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway 3 Occupational, Environmental and Insurance Medicine, Department of Public Health University Leuven, Belgium 4 Académie Royale, des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts, Belgium 5 University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila de Bucharest, Institute of National Disability Evaluation and Rehabilitation of Workability, Bucharest, Romania 6 Medizinischer Dienst der Krankenversicherung, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland 7 Clinical Trial Unit,, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland Abstract Introduction In western countries, people who are unable to work because of ill health can receive a benefit if return to work turns out to be impossible. The legal rules require them to file a claim and undergo a disability evaluation. Western social security systems share principles, but they have developed independently in each country. However, definitions and legal criteria are more or less different [1] therefore procedure and accomplishment of the disability evaluation is realised differently in each country [2]. Critics across Europe have pointed to the lack of quality and transparency of the evaluations [3–5] the heterogeneous presentation of the findings in the medical reports being one of the criticisms. For transparency, comparative analysis, and data exchange, and universal definitions are crucial. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) might prove to be useful by providing a common point of reference for conceptualizing disability [3], which could help medical examiners to report in a more standardised way[4, 6]. For disability evaluation the EUMASS working group on ICF developed the EUMASS Core Set (ECS) [7]. The ECS consists of 20 ICF categories (five body functions and 15 activity / participation). So far this core set has not been tested empirically.Introduction In western countries, people who are unable to work because of ill health can receive a benefit if return to work turns out to be impossible. The legal rules require them to file a claim and undergo a disability evaluation. Western social security systems share principles, but they have developed independently in each country. However, definitions and legal criteria are more or less different [1] therefore procedure and accomplishment of the disability evaluation is realised differently in each country [2]. Critics across Europe have pointed to the lack of quality and transparency of the evaluations [3–5] the heterogeneous presentation of the findings in the medical reports being one of the criticisms. For transparency, comparative analysis, and data exchange, and universal definitions are crucial. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) might prove to be useful by providing a common point of reference for conceptualizing disability [3], which could help medical examiners to report in a more standardised way[4, 6]. For disability evaluation the EUMASS working group on ICF developed the EUMASS Core Set (ECS) [7]. The ECS consists of 20 ICF categories (five body functions and 15 activity / participation). So far this core set has not been tested empirically. In six countries we explored if the ECS includes enough categories for disability evaluation and if the medical examiners are satisfied with usefulness and sufficiency of the ECS. Abstract XIX EUMASS Congress 2012XIX EUMASS Congress 2012 JA 2 Furthermore we explored if applying the ECS requires medical examiners to collect additional information.