At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, Dongchun Wang and Vennela Thumula from WCRI discussed physician dispensing and opioid use. The studies they discussed have not yet been published, so the results are subject to change. Physician Dispensing In the last few years, 20 states have implemented reforms targeting the pricing of physician […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, Dr Robert Hartwig from Insurance Information Institute presented a session focusing on the impact the sharing economy is having on workers’ compensation. The sharing economy is transforming the American workforce and will transform the property/casualty insurance industry across all lines. Technology provides a unique opportunity to […]

At the WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, Dr Olesya Formenko from WCRI talked about a  study into why there are variations in surgery rates for patients with back injuries. In the WCRI study, spinal surgery rates on back injury claims varied from a low of 7% in California, to a high of 19% in […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, a panel discussed the CompScope findings on system differences in indemnity and medical payments. CompScope is an annual benchmarking study produced by WCRI that analyzes the workers’ compensation benefits in 18 states.  The focus of this presentation was information from Georgia and Kentucky. It should be […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research conference, Carol Tellis from WCRI discussed CompScope findings on trends in medical payments per claim from 2009-2014. From 2009-2014, half the study states had little change in medical payments per claim. 9 of the study states had increases under 3% with three states having a reduction in […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research conference, a panel discussed the pros and cons of opt-out.  The speakers were Trey Gillespie with PCIAA and Bill Minick from PartnerSource. It is important to distinguish between Texas and other opt-out models. In Texas, workers’ compensation is not mandatory for private employers. Employers can go completely […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues Symposium, Dr Rebecca Yang and Dr Bogdan Savych from WCRI presented the findings from a very narrow ongoing study that focused on claims from New York City that sought medical care at ambulatory surgical centers (ASC). This study was triggered by the fact they were seeing over a 30% […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, Alex Swedlow from California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) discussed their studies around medical review and medical dispute resolution in California workers’ compensation. CWCI studies many potential areas of of friction to see the impact this had on state benefit costs. There is almost no correlation between […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, WCRI representatives presented a session comparing workers’ compensation outcomes across states. Panelists included: Dr. Sharon Belton – WCRI Dr. Bogdan Savych – WCRI Dr. Vennela Thumula – WCRI The purpose of this study and other similar studies recently conducted by WCRI was to analyze the outcomes […]

At the 2016 WCRI Annual Issues & Research Conference, Dr. John Ruser and Dr. Olesya Formenko from WCRI discussed a not-yet published study on the impact that medical fee schedules can have on case-shifting in workers’ compensation. Studies have shown that a fee schedule changes not only change the price paid for services, but it […]