The 20th edition of this study for Massachusetts helps policymakers and other system stakeholders identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in a wide variety of workers’ compensation system performance measures. It also provides an excellent baseline for tracking the effectiveness of policy changes and monitoring important trends, such as the impact of COVID-19.

The study compares the performance of the Massachusetts workers’ compensation system with 17 other states, focusing on

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

It examines how these system performance metrics have changed, mainly from 2013 to 2018, for claims at various claim maturities. Claims with experience through March 2019 for injuries up to and including 2018 were analyzed. In some cases, a longer time frame was used to supply historical context for key metrics. Findings from other WCRI studies were also included, where relevant, to provide a more complete picture of the system. 

CompScope™ Benchmarks for Massachusetts, 20th Edition. Roman Dolinschi and Evelina Radeva. April 2020. WC-20-07.