This annual study creates an index for the actual prices paid for professional services over a 12-year span from 2008 to 2019 based on a marketbasket of commonly used services for treating workers with injuries. This study also provides a baseline for policymakers and other system stakeholders to observe any effects the current COVID-19 pandemic might have on medical prices in workers’ compensation across states and over time.

The study focuses on professional services (evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major and minor radiology, neurological and neuromuscular testing, pain management injections, and emergency care) billed by physicians, physical and occupational therapists, and chiropractors. It shows how prices paid for these services compare across states, how the prices have changed, and whether price growth is part of a broader phenomenon or unique to a state. The study also discusses the price comparison results and price trends in relation to the principal policy mechanism for regulating prices—fee schedules.

This edition covers 36 states that represent 88 percent of the workers’ compensation benefits paid in the United States. These states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

WCRI Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation, 12th Edition (MPI-WC). Rebecca (Rui) Yang and Olesya Fomenko. May 2020. WC-20-24.

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Copyright: WCRI