WCRI Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation, 17th Edition (MPI-WC)

By Rebecca (Rui) Yang, Olesya Fomenko

May 20, 2025 Related Topics: Medical Costs, Medical Price Index

This annual study compares prices paid for medical professional services across 36 states from 2008 to 2024. It focuses on services commonly billed by physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors, including evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major and minor radiology, neurological testing, pain management injections, and emergency care.

Unlike other indices measuring prices of all medical professional services provided to the general population, this index is a more relevant benchmark of medical inflation in workers’ compensation as it focuses on those services commonly provided to workers with injuries. Since workers’ compensation price regulations are set at the state level, this study provides a state-level price index to help policymakers and stakeholders conduct meaningful comparisons of prices paid across states and to monitor price trends in relation to changes in fee schedules.

This edition covers 36 states that represent 88 percent of the workers’ compensation benefits paid in the United States. These states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

WCRI Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation, 17th Edition (MPI-WC). Rebecca Yang and Olesya Fomenko. May 2025. WC-25-23.

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Research Questions:

  • How did prices for professional services vary across states in 2024, and which states had higher and lower prices relative to the 36-state median?
  • What was the impact of fee schedules on prices in 2024, and how much higher were prices in states without fee schedules compared to those with them?
  • What were the trends in price growth for professional services from 2008 to 2024, and how did states without fee schedules compare to those with fee schedules?
  • What does the study reveal about price changes following major fee schedule updates, both overall and by specific service types?

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