Waltham, MA, October 31, 2024 – A recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) found that the delivery of medical care to workers injured in Minnesota may be starting to increase after pandemic-related disruptions. Factors suggesting this trend include increasing medical payments per claim and a stable or modest rise in the utilization of most services.

“The main drivers of medical growth in the Minnesota workers’ compensation system in 2022 were increases in ambulatory surgery center facility payments and hospital inpatient payments,” said Sebastian Negrusa, WCRI’s vice president of research. “In addition, utilization remained stable or began to increase for most types of providers and services after decreases during the first two years of the pandemic. This might indicate that the delivery of medical care in Minnesota has started to rebound from the disruptions since the onset of the pandemic.”

The study, CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Minnesota, 25th Edition, examines medical payments, prices, and utilization in Minnesota compared with 16 other states. The report also monitors how these metrics have changed over time. Some other sample findings include the following:

• Medical payments per claim in Minnesota were lower than in many study states; most key components in Minnesota were lower or typical of the study states.
• The share of claims that received nonhospital and hospital outpatient care in Minnesota started to increase or were stable in 2022 for most types of services, after the widespread decreases between 2019 and 2021.

This report analyzes claims data through March 2023, offering insights into the pandemic's impact on non-COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims. The interstate comparison data cover states that account for 60 percent of all workers’ compensation benefits paid nationwide. The report was authored by Rebecca Yang.

ABOUT WCRI

The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Waltham, MA. Founded in 1983, the Institute does not take positions on the issues it researches; rather, it provides information obtained through studies and data collection efforts, which conform to recognized scientific methods. Objectivity is further ensured through rigorous, unbiased peer review procedures. WCRI's diverse membership includes employers; insurers; governmental entities; managed care companies; health care providers; insurance regulators; state labor organizations; and state administrative agencies in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

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