This study assists policymakers and stakeholders in California’s workers’ compensation system by identifying current cost drivers and emerging trends in payments, prices, and utilization of medical services among both nonhospital and hospital providers.

The report compares these medical payment metrics in California with those in 16 other states and analyzes changes from 2017 to 2022. In some instances, we include data from before 2017 to provide historical context for key metrics. Additionally, we draw on findings from other WCRI studies to create a more comprehensive overview of the system in California.

The results reflect claims experience through March 2023, including non-COVID-19 claims from the first three years of the pandemic (March 2020 to September 2022), offering insights into how the pandemic influenced non-COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims during that time.

The report highlights key policy changes in recent years, including Assembly Bill 1124, which established a drug formulary in January 2018, as well as updates to California’s medical fee schedules for hospital outpatient departments, ambulatory surgery centers, and nonhospital professional services, which may have impacted the report’s findings.

CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for California, 25th Edition. William Monnin-Browder. October 2024. WC-24-25.

Copyright: WCRI