Learning ObjectivesDescribe how employee health care delivery under the Washington state Managed Care Pilot (MCP) demonstration program differed from the preceding system of care.Recall the ways in which employers operating under the MCP and a comparison group utilizing the existing health care system differed in their perceptions of their employees’ health care, and of their own relationship with health care providers.Identify the critical factors in how employers viewed the MCP compared to the pre-existing system of workers’ health care.Developing more effective approaches to disability prevention has been a longstanding challenge for the workers’ compensation system. A major obstacle to this goal has been the lack of communication and interaction between employers and physicians who care for injured workers. From 1995 through 1997, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries sponsored a major demonstration program, known as the managed care pilot (MCP), to assess the effects of managed care on medical and disability costs, patient satisfaction and employer satisfaction. We developed a telephone survey and administered it to 243 employers as part of the MCP evaluation. Topics covered in this survey include satisfaction with treatment rendered, duration of lost work time, work modifications, and satisfaction with communication received during the employee’s recovery period. Employers in the intervention (managed care) condition were more satisfied with the managed care/occupational medicine system than the employers in the comparison group were with the fee-for-service system. MCP employers were satisfied particularly with the frequency and quality of communication received from the health care provider regarding return to work and work modification issues. Improved employer-provider communication may foster early return to work and thereby have a beneficial effect on health and employment outcomes for injured workers.