This 2026 edition of CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks helps policymakers and other system stakeholders identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in workers’ compensation medical costs. New features of this edition include an expanded set of 27 study states, a more concise format for summary reports, and deeper perspectives drawn from WCRI’s broader research.

The studies examine trends in payments, prices, and utilization of medical care for workers with injuries. They provide analyses of recent costs and trends, reporting how medical payments per claim and their components vary over time and from state to state. The studies cover the period from 2019 through 2024, with claims experience through March 2025.

The 27 study states—Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin—account for about 70 percent of workers’ compensation benefit payments nationwide. We conducted detailed analyses in the form of individual reports for 12 of the states; each of these includes comparative data for all 27 states.

The studies also provide an overview of factors likely to have affected medical payments and treatment in recent years. Where relevant, we include findings from other recent Workers Compensation Research Institute studies to provide a more comprehensive picture.

CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks, 2026 Edition. Terence Cawley, William Monnin-Browder, Evelina Radeva, Karen Rothkin, Bogdan Savych, and Rebecca Yang. September 2026. WC-26-24 to WC-26-35.

Video: