The 19th edition of this study for Minnesota helps policymakers and other system stakeholders identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in key system performance metrics. The study compares the performance of the Minnesota workers’ compensation system with 17 other study states, focusing on costs, income benefits, overall medical payments, use of benefits, duration of temporary disability, frequency and payments of permanent partial disability/lump-sum claims, benefit delivery expenses, litigiousness, timeliness of payment, and other metrics. The study also examines how these metrics have changed, primarily from 2012 to 2017, for claims at various maturities. Claims with experience through March 2018 for injuries up to and including 2017 were analyzed, and in some cases, a longer time frame was used to supply historical context.

In recent years, Minnesota implemented several policy changes. Effective January 2016, the hospital inpatient fee schedule in Minnesota changed from a predominantly charge-based approach to a Medicare-based, fixed-amount fee schedule. The early effect of this change is discussed in the report using 2016 claims with experience through March 2017 based on the findings from CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Minnesota, 19th Edition (Belton, 2018).

Effective October 1, 2018, Minnesota enacted House File (H.F.) 3873, a comprehensive reform bill that affects many aspects of the state’s workers’ compensation system. Among its many provisions, this legislation adopted new Medicare-based fee schedules for hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgery center services, and increased income benefits for injured workers. Data in this study reflect results prior to the implementation of H.F. 3873. Future editions of CompScope™ reports will monitor the impact of these policy changes on costs per claim and other metrics in the Minnesota system.

CompScope™ Benchmarks for Minnesota, 19th Edition. Rui Yang. April 2019. WC-19-10.

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