Since medical costs are a constant focus for policymakers and system stakeholders in state workers’ compensation systems, this annual study provides comparisons of prices paid for medical professional services across 36 states from 2008 to 2023. The study focuses on professional services (evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major and minor radiology, neurological testing, pain management injections, and emergency care) billed by physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors.

Unlike other indices measuring how prices for professional services change, this index is a more relevant benchmark of medical inflation in workers’ compensation as it focuses on those services commonly provided to workers with injuries. Since workers’ compensation price regulations are set at the state level, this study provides a state-level price index to help policymakers and stakeholders conduct meaningful comparisons of prices paid across states and to monitor price trends in relation to changes in 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, 16th Edition (MPI-WC). Rebecca Yang and Olesya Fomenko. May 2024. WC-24-20.

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