The Workers Compensation Research Institute is hosting a free webinar June 24 covering its recently released "FlashReport, Interstate Variation and Trends in Workers’ Compensation Drug Payments: 2017Q1 to 2020Q1."

Two of the study’s authors, Dr. Vennela Thumula and Dongchun Wang, will discuss its key findings and addresses questions including:

• Which drug groups make up the most prescription drug payments in workers’ compensation?
• Are payments for opioids and compounds still decreasing, and which groups are taking their place?
• How much interstate variation is there in payments for the various drug groups?
• Is physician dispensing driving the costs for any of the drug groups in any states?
• Did overall prescription drug spending change during the study period and during the first quarter of the pandemic?

The 28 states in the study are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

In each quarter, prescriptions that were dispensed for all medical claims with injuries occurring within three years of the prescription fill date and paid under workers’ compensation were included.

The webinar is at 2 p.m. Eastern June 24. More information is here.