This study can help policymakers and other stakeholders identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in payments, prices, and utilization of medical services provided for treating workers with injuries in the Michigan workers’ compensation system.

The study examines medical payments, prices, and utilization for various types of services by nonhospital and hospital providers in Michigan and compares them with 17 other states. The study also examines how these metrics of medical payments and care have changed, mainly from 2014 to 2019. Claims with experience through 2020 for injuries up to and including 2019 were analyzed. In some cases, a longer period was used to supply historical context for key metrics. Information from other WCRI studies was also included to provide a more complete picture of the system in Michigan.

The results we report include experience on claims through March 2020, at the very beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The study, therefore, provides a pre-COVID-19 baseline for evaluating the impact of the virus on workers’ compensation claims. 

CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Michigan, 22nd Edition. William Monnin-Browder. October 2021. WC-21-32.