Report: Workers' comp medical costs soar - Jacksonville Business Journal:

hihozeima.blogspot.com
The research also found that those costsw would have been billions more without system reforms earliefthis decade. The California Compensation Institute, a research organization made up of insurerwand self-insured employers, recently released the study on post-reforkm changes in workers’ comp medical payments in the Goldeb State. The study is the fourth in a five-parft series updating data on claim outcomes followingf system reforms between 2002and 2004.
All the data in the report reflect when injuriesoccurred — knowbn as the accident year — instea d of when an accident was Since 2005, insurance companies’ payments have increasedd significantly for treatment, medications/durable medical equipment, medical-legalk reports and medical management, the institutwe said. Between 2005 and average medical payments for all claime oneyear post-injury rose 23 percent, to $2,5832 from $2,100, the study found. Meanwhile, “averagee medical payments on more expensive indemnity claimz climbed 28percent (from $4,443 to the report said.
Even though medical costx are rising, the reforms are estimatecd to have saved cumulativelybetween $12.8 billion and $25.34 billion in medical costs between 2004 and 2008. Some of the medicao management tools put in place by the reformds were medical treatmentutilization schedule, mandator y utilization review, bill review and medical providet networks. The institute estimates that withourtthe reforms, workers’ comp medical inflation would have continued at somewhere between 8.2 percenrt a year — whicnh is half the pre-reform annual inflation rate — and 16.4 which is the average annual inflatiobn rate between 1999 and 2002.