Study: Workers’ Comp Medical Payments Decrease
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA study by the Massachusetts-based Workers Compensation Research Institute says medical payments per workers’ compensation claim in Indiana have decreased for the first time in more than 10 years. The study says the decrease, recorded from 2014 to 2015, was the largest of the 18 states evaluated.
The study says the decrease was largely due to the enaction of House Enrolled Act 1320 in 2014, which created a hospital fee schedule and reduced payments per claim for hospital care. The WCRI says hospital costs were a "key driver of higher-than-typical medical payments in Indiana."
However, the decrease was partly offset by growth in prices and utilization of non-hospital care. The study says, despite the decrease, Indiana’s medical payments per claim remained higher than the median of the 18 states included.
The results of the study follow the announcement from the Indiana Department of Insurance to reduce workers’ compensation rates by 13 percent, beginning in January. Commissioner Stephen Robertson says the reduction will save Hoosier businesses approximately $102 million.