Use of Sickness Absence Rates in Foreign Healthcare Management

Background: Introduction of the target indicator providing for a decrease in time lost from work due to illness or injury among the Russian workforce by the year 2030 can be interpreted as a guideline to increase contribution of the healthcare system to the total gross value added, since human health status determines the quality of the human resources of the country, thus affecting productivity and the prospects for economic growth. Objective: To review recent publications devoted to the use of sickness absence rates in healthcare management in foreign countries. Materials and methods: We reviewed the results of scientific research based on 58 foreign publications issued in 2019–2024 and found in the Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar bibliometric databases using the following keywords: productivity loss OR absenteeism OR presenteeism AND economic evaluation. Results: We analyzed methods and approaches to assessing economic damages due to health-related productivity loss in the context of measures aimed at reducing sickness absenteeism, including multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs, behavioral therapy, stress reduction programs, educational sessions, counseling, physical training, multicomponent effects, etc. Online medical consultations for patients were found to be the most cost effective type of intervention. At the same time, programs for prevention and treatment of specific diseases demonstrated better efficiency than workplace wellness programs as they reduced absenteeism instead of increasing presenteeism, the economic damage from which was much higher. Thus, presenteeism is the major underestimated element accounting for indirect economic losses associated with morbidity in the workforce. Conclusions: Foreign scientists pay increasingly more attention to the problem of reduced productivity levels in those working while sick. Economic losses from presenteeism significantly exceed those from sickness absence, which requires the development of common evaluation methods and counteraction strategies, which are currently nonexistent in the Russian Federation. Given the high debt burden of the population and fears of job loss, it is unacceptable to ignore presenteeism.