Workers Compensation Fee Schedules = Less Costly Claims and Premiums
Virtually all Workers Compensation Fee Schedules cut comp costs across the board. Check out this search for fee schedules articles on this website. WCRI just published a massive study on workers compensation fee schedules. The study covers 87% of the workers comp benefits paid in the US.
WCRI Says Freebies On This One
Dr. Rebecca Yang and Dr. Olesya Fomenko’s extremely comprehensive study covers 35 states. These two researchers are data geniuses along with all the staff at WCRI.
For many years (over 11) I have written numerous articles on fee schedules. Why?- because they are governmental interventions that usually totally works to reduce the cost to employers, carriers, and all other parties. Next week, I will cover the hidden side of fee schedules that are just as important.
Virginia just enacted a fee schedule. For some reason, I thought Virginia would never have a fee schedule. Some tweaks will likely be needed for their fee schedule.
From the WCRI press release and website:
The study, WCRI Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation, 10th Edition (MPI-WC), compares medical prices paid in 35 states and tracks price changes in most states over a 10-year span from 2008 to 2017 for professional services billed by physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors. The medical services fall into eight groups: evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major radiology, minor radiology, neurological testing, pain management injections, and emergency care.
One interesting development pointed out by WCRI is the following states had major fee schedule changes:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- North Carolina
- Texas.
The rating bureaus such as NCCI (most of nation) and WCIRB (California) both provided numerous articles on fee schedules reducing costs.
The following is a sample of the WCRI study’s findings: (directly from their website)
- Prices paid for a similar set of professional services varied significantly across states, ranging from 26 percent below the 35-state median in Florida to 158 percent above the 35-state median in Wisconsin in 2017.
- States with no fee schedules for professional services had higher prices paid compared with states with fee schedules—39 to 168 percent higher than the median of the study states with fee schedules in 2017.
- Changes in prices paid for professional services exhibited variation across states, spanning between a 17 percent decrease in Illinois and a 39 percent increase in Wisconsin over the time period from 2008 to 2017.
- Most states with no fee schedules experienced faster growth in prices paid for professional services compared with states with fee schedules—the median growth rate among the non-fee schedule states was 30 percent from 2008 to 2017, compared with the median growth rate of 6 percent among the fee schedule states.
I think we can draw a direct conclusion from the studies by NCCI, WCIRB, and especially WCRI. States can only help themselves by enacting and properly adjusting their workers compensation fee schedules.
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One Response
Thanks for pointing us to a very good and free study on how to cut comp costs. I have bookmarked you and will check back in next week.
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