Comprehensive PPD Rating Study – 34 State Comparison
I came across a great PPD Rating study by NCCI that was worth a read. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) compared the ratings for 34 different states. The summary article can be found here. The complete study is at this link.
My favorite way to compare states comes from the Exhibit 1 – 7 sliders. The main article is interactive.
Adjusters, underwriters, and risk managers should be able to use the article to compare the PPD rating study results.
According to NCCI’s PPD Rating Study authors:
The authors of the PPD Rating Study and report were David Colon and Casan Scott.
Permanent partial disability injuries account for approximately 50% of all workers compensation costs, with impairment ratings playing a key role in most states. Consequently, changes in impairment ratings can have a significant impact on workers compensation costs.
The study and report includes data from the following jurisdictions: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MO, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NM, NV, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, and WV.
Some of the conclusions from the authors (
- The average impairment rating varies by state, ranging from about 4% to approximately 11%
- Claims involving surgery have, on average, impairment ratings that are 2 points higher than those without surgery (7.2% vs. 5%)
- Claims with time-to-MMI under 90 days average a 4.4% impairment rating, while those taking over two years average 9.1%
- Average impairment ratings for the most common medical conditions vary from about 3% for hand/wrist synovitis to approximately 10% for lumbar spine degeneration
Interactive Rating Comparisons – An Interactive Example
The interactive comparison shows the difference in each of the PPD rating study states.
According to the PPD Rating Study authors –
In Exhibit 2, the distribution of time taken from injury to reach MMI across all claims underscores the variability in recovery periods. This time frame spans from a few days to well beyond a year, with an average duration of 363 days. Notably, 90% of cases achieve MMI within two years post-injury, highlighting the general timeline within which most claims stabilize medically. Across study states, the median time-to-MMI ranges between 189 and 644 days.
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I used the Alaska interactive comparison with Exhibit 2.
From the chart, Alaska on the right, has a longer healing period to Maximum Medical Improvement than the 34 state average on the left.
Bottom Line on PPD Rating Study
If you deal with any Workers Comp aspect of the 34 study states, the interactive article should be on your list to read and reference when comparing states.
