This study can help policymakers and other system stakeholders interested in the Kentucky workers’ compensation system identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in a wide variety of workers’ compensation cost components.

It also allows for meaningful comparisons between Kentucky and 17 other states (Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin) on key performance measures, including the following:

• income benefits,
• overall medical
• payments,
• costs,
• use of benefits,
• duration of disability,
• litigiousness,
• benefit delivery expenses,
• timeliness of payment,
• permanent partial disability,
• temporary total disability, and
• other metrics.

The study also examined how these system performance metrics have changed, mainly from 2009 to 2015, for claims at various claim maturities. Claims with experience through the first quarter of 2016 for injuries up to and including 2015 were analyzed. Information from other WCRI studies was added to provide a more complete picture of the Kentucky workers’ compensation system.   

CompScope™ Benchmarks for Kentucky, 17th Edition. William Monnin-Browder. April 2017. WC-17-06.

Copyright: WCRI