April Stiles, CEO of Perspecta, writes for WorkCompWire:

In workers’ compensation, provider directory accuracy tends to live in the operational basement. It is a checklist item, a compliance line, a metric someone updates and someone else reviews. The reality is harder to dismiss. When a directory is wrong, a claim is already going wrong, often before anyone in the system realizes it.

For a long time, the financial argument for accurate provider data rested on intuition. Recent research from the Workers Compensation Research Institute has put a sharper edge on that argument. WCRI’s analysis of lost-time claims across 34 states found that claims treated by network providers cost roughly 26%, or about $11,800, less per claim at 36 months of
maturity than claims treated by non-network providers. They also shorten disability duration by approximately a week and a half and shift the mix of services toward more conservative care.

Read the full article here.  The WCRI study she cites is Impact of Networks on Claim Outcomes.  Visit its page on our website for more information, including on how to get a copy!