Limited empirical evidence was available to examine the relationship between paid sick days and
primary care utilization, and no empirical studies had examined the relationship between paid sick
days and preventable or ambulatory care hospitalizations. Two published studies had small sample
sizes and we considered them inconclusive.20 21 One of the larger national studies found that mothers
who could use sick leave for doctor visits had 27% more sick-child visits than those without the
benefit.