New WCRI Publications

CompScope Medical Benchmarks, 13th Edition

Escalating workers’ compensation medical expenses are capturing the attention of policymakers and stakeholders, but what is behind the numbers in various states?  Higher prices? Increased utilization? 

This annual report examines sixteen large states, providing detailed measures of medical prices, payments and utilization by provider type and service group.  

Key questions addressed in this report include:

• How do medical prices, payments and utilization per claim differ across states for similar injuries and workers?

• How have medical prices, payments and utilization per claim changed over time within each state, and what are the major drivers of those changes?

Thirteen of the 16 states in the 13^th edition have individual state reports. To read the abstract, executive summary, or to order a report, click on the state title below.

Workers' Compensation Medical Cost Containment: A National Inventory, 2013

As the cost of medical care for injured workers continues to grow, this study provides policymakers and system stakeholders with an inventory of the key features of the cost containment initiatives employed by 51 jurisdictions. It includes tables of statutory provisions, administrative rules, and administrative procedures in place as of January 1, 2013. 

Medical cost containment strategies include price management methods, such as fee schedules, and utilization management, such as utilization review or medical networks. The 2013 edition includes new information about the ability to settle costs of future medical care and whether there is a finite period of time for medical care.
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Hospital Outpatient Cost Index for Workers’ Compensation, 2nd Edition

Rising hospital costs have been a focus of debates in many states. To help policymakers and stakeholders conduct more meaningful comparisons on hospital costs across states, this study creates an index for hospital outpatient costs for a group of relatively homogeneous surgical episodes for the most common outpatient surgeries in workers’ compensation.

Lessons from interstate comparisons and from intrastate trends provide insight into policy choices and changes.

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Monitoring the Impact of the 2007 Reforms in New York

Designed to evaluate whether the 2007 regulatory changes met stated objectives, this fifth annual report is an important tool to assess the performance of the New York workers’ compensation system in the wake of the 2007 reforms and related administrative changes.  

The key regulatory changes increased maximum statutory benefits, limited the number of weeks of permanent partial disability, developed a fee schedule for pharmaceuticals, required medical treatment guidelines to be created and implemented, created networks for diagnostic services and thresholds for preauthorization, and made administrative changes to increase speed of case resolution.
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CompScope™ Benchmarks, 13th Edition

Thirteen of the 16 states in the 13^th edition (all but Florida, Iowa, and Maryland) have individual state reports. To read the abstract, executive summary, or to order a report, click on the state below.

Longer-Term Use of Opioids

With opioid misuse a top public health problem in the United States, a new report examines longer-term use of narcotics in 21 states and how often recommended treatment guidelines for monitoring injured workers with longer-term use were followed by physicians.

The monitoring included services, such as drug testing and psychological evaluations, which can help prevent opioid misuse by injured workers that could result in overdose deaths, addiction, and diversion. The study found relatively low compliance with medical treatment guidelines in most states.