This article presents a conceptual framework that allows the practitioner to appreciate the relationship between health status and health interventions and productivity in relation to workers' compensation care. Factors important to productivity for individual workers are indicated. Some specific applications of health and productivity theory to the area of workers' compensation from the points of view of the injured worker, the employer, the insurer, and the treating physician are described. Finally, alternate ways of looking at these relationships using the concept of the human capital are briefly discussed.