This study provides meaningful comparisons between Florida and 17 other workers’ compensation systems (Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin) on key performance measures, including the following:

• income benefits,
• overall medical
• payments,
• costs,
• use of benefits,
• duration of disability,
• litigiousness,
• benefit delivery expenses,
• timeliness of payment,
• permanent partial disability,
• temporary total disability, and
• other metrics.

It also examines how these metrics have changed, primarily from 2010 to 2015. In some cases, we used a longer time frame to supply historical context to the system. Claims with experience through March 2016 for injuries up to and including 2015 were analyzed.

Two significant decisions (Castellanos and Westphal) were issued by the Florida Supreme Court in 2016. These decisions are expected to affect costs and litigation expenses in the state’s workers’ compensation system. The findings in this study reflect the system performance prior to these decisions.

CompScope™ Benchmarks for Florida, 17th Edition. Rui Yang. April 2017. WC-17-02.

 

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