One of the best free workers' comp info sources on medical pricing nationwide was published in May by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The authors of the study are Rebecca Yang and Olesya Fomenko.

James Moore

From WCRI:

"This annual study compares prices paid for medical professional services across 36 states from 2008 to 2024. It focuses on services commonly billed by physicians, physical therapists and chiropractors, including evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major and minor radiology, neurological testing, pain management injections and emergency care.

"Unlike other indexes measuring prices of all medical professional services provided to the general population, this index is a more relevant benchmark of medical inflation in workers’ compensation, as it focuses on services commonly provided to workers with injuries. Since workers’ compensation price regulations are set at the state level, this study provides a state price index to help policymakers and stakeholders conduct meaningful comparisons of prices paid across states and to monitor price trends in relation to changes in fee schedules.

"This edition covers states that represent 88% of the workers’ compensation benefits paid. The states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin."

By going here and providing your info, you can download the statistical studies for every state. The medical pricing info shows a trend that I have pointed out since I started this blog in 2007.

I have mentioned this same anomaly (or is it?) since WCRI started publishing this study and report. Medical fee schedules do two interesting things:

• Control the cost of workers' comp medical treatment.
• Allow claims adjusters, underwriters and other insurance personnel to forecast the cost or reserve files more accurately. An adjuster can easily access information from the report to assess the medical reserve levels of certain medical procedures. If the adjuster is not familiar with a state’s medical cost, the charts and graphs are even more valuable.

This blog post is provided by James Moore, AIC, MBA, ChFC, ARM, and is republished with permission from J&L Risk Management Consultants. Visit the full website at www.cutcompcosts.com.