This study can help policymakers and other stakeholders involved in the Louisiana workers’ compensation system identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in payments, prices, and utilization of medical services among nonhospital and hospital providers. In this report, we examine medical payments, prices, and utilization in Louisiana and compare them with 16 other states (Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin) in the CompScope™ Medical benchmarking studies. The study also examines how these metrics of medical costs and care have changed mainly from 2008 to 2013 for claims at an average 12 months of experience. We found that medical payments per claim changed little from 2011 to 2013, after increasing 12 percent per year from 2008 to 2011. We analyzed claims with experience through 2014 for injuries up to and including 2013. In some cases, we used a longer time frame to supply historical context for key metrics.

CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Louisiana, 16th Edition. Carol A. Telles. October 2015. WC-15-36.

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