WCRI Webinar -Workers Comp Drug Payment Trends Across States
Workers Comp drug payment trends are still important even after the opioid crisis.
From WCRI –
The study includes prescriptions dispensed for non-COVID-19 claims with injuries occurring within three years of the prescription fill date and paid under workers’ compensation during each quarter. The 28 states included 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.
I decided to post this one live, if possible Please excuse any typos. I will review and correct any errors later today. I have to publish the newsletter right after writing this article.
Dr. Vennela Thumula, Senior Policy Analyst is presenting for WCRI (Workers Compensation Research Institute).
Workers comp drug payment trends indicate an overall decrease from all the study states.
The per-claim prescription cost decreased by over 30% in 10 years. I found that to be an amazing figure with the overall workers comp claim costs increasing for over 20 years.
The dermatological prescriptions seemed to experience the largest increase during the last 10 years except in South Carolina where payments for topicals had limits enacted in 2022. One only has to look at the slide below to see why South Carolina limited the reimbursement rates for topical RXs.
From the presentation and the above summary slide, Lousiana and Pennsylvania experienced increases in Workers Comp drug payments
Opioid prescriptions have decreased – a great sign for the WC insurance industry. What was once a crisis now looks to be contained since the start of the pandemic.
Conclusion – one should not try to post a live 30-minute webinar that covers so much material so quickly. The full study report can be found here. WCRI members can obtain it for free.
