In recent policy debates, increasing costs of medical care for treating injured workers have been a focus of public policymakers and system stakeholders in many states. To help them conduct meaningful comparisons of prices paid across states, and to monitor the price trends in relation to policy choices and changes in fee schedules, this annual study creates an index for the actual prices paid for professional services based on a market basket of commonly used services for treating injured workers. 

The MPI-WC tracks medical prices paid in 31 states from calendar year 2008 through 2015 for professional services billed by physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors. The medical services fall into eight groups: evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major radiology, minor radiology, neurological testing, pain management injections, and emergency care.

The 31 states included in the MPI-WC are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

WCRI Medical Price Index for Workers' Compensation, Eighth Edition. Rui Yang and Olesya Fomenko. November 2016. WC-16-74.