2024 Workers Comp Industry Insights Survey Report
The 2024 Workers Comp Industry Insights Survey Report sponsored by Healthe Systems and Risk & Insurance Magazine showed that one year in Workers Comp can lead to significant changes in opinion. The results were very different in just one year – 2023 to 2024.
The Sixth Annual Workers’ Compensation Industry Insights Survey Report was conducted in person at the National Comp conference and online through the end of October 2023. Follow-up interviews with approximately five percent of survey respondents were conducted during December. Over 500 workers comp industry personnel were surveyed for the report.
The largest percentage of participants were from
- Executive Leadership,
- Claims Management, and
- Risk Managers.
One could call these three groups, the statistical report readers. Each one of these groups reviews reports often as part of their jobs.
I recommend downloading the study here. It is worth your time to read over the results. Some of the results were very unexpected, to say the least. I will point out a few of them from the 2024 Workers Comp Industry Insights Survey.
65% of claims leaders see healthcare provider/service shortage as a major challenge. I did not see that one showing up in the results.
73% of claim professionals cite difficulty obtaining information from medical providers as an obstacle to facilitating care. This has always been a problem in Workers Compensation claims – yes, always.
A different place of concern would be the topicals. The exceeding cost of those drugs does not match the outcome. – Medical Program Manager | PBM This one comes as no surprise. Claims adjusters have made this comment to me often over the last 5 – 7 years.
The shortage of workers in the acute healthcare and insurance industries has been pending for years and we can now see more movement toward solutions. I have seen this listed as a priority over 20 years ago. AI is not going to fill in for workers in the insurance industry. Insurance, especially workers comp requires the “human touch”.
One Year = Different Survey Results
Medical price inflation was a top concern for 58% of survey participants last year, but only 44% cited it as a concern for 2024. The rating bureau NCCI saw this coming in May of 2023. Medical price inflation did not follow the overall economic price increases.
Discrepancies in medical management program priorities since last year were also notable. Managing comorbidities took a rather dramatic fall from the #1 priority for 71% of participants last year to the #3 position with only 35% of respondents citing it as a top priority. This is in contrast to other areas of the survey which indicate a lot of concern about comorbidities. In addition, only 31% of respondents said implementing mental health programs was a priority, as compared to 52% who said so last year. Those are major drops in comorbidity concerns and mental health programs. Could they be due to a post-pandemic effect? Regardless those drops are significant.
Check out the 2024 Workers Comp Industry Insights Survey. The report provides great information from a different angle.
