CAMBRIDGE, MA (PRWEB) November 12, 2012
The cost per claim for medical care for injured workers in Virginia was higher than in most states and growing faster, according to a new study, Benchmarks for Virginia, CompScope 13th Edition, by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).
The study will help policymakers and other stakeholders understand how the Virginia workers compensation system measures up with other states and serves as an invaluable tool in making system improvements, said Ramona Tanabe, WCRIs Deputy Director and Counsel.
The study reported that medical costs per claim with more than seven days of lost time in Virginia rose 8 percent per year from 2005 to 2010 (evaluated in 2011). Between 2008 and 2010, those costs showed an acceleration; by contrast, most of the 16 states in the study showed little change or a decrease in costs per claim from 2009 to 2010. Higher and rising prices mainly drove medical costs per claim in the state, which were 25 percent higher than those in the median study state.
In spite of the higher medical costs per claim, the overall cost per workers compensation claim in Virginia (including claims with income benefit payments and claims with only medical payments) was close to the median of the study states. That result occurred, in part, because fewer workers in Virginia had more than one week off work. Therefore, cases in which workers received indemnity benefitspayments for lost wageswere less frequent.
The study also reported that income benefits per claim in Virginia were fairly typical of the 16 study states. Those benefits were 6 percent higher than in the median study state. Income benefit costs per claim rose an average of 5 percent per year from 2005 to 2010.
Among the studys other findings