Workers’ Comp Costs-Per-Claim in High Louisiana, Research Group Says

Workers’ compensation costs per claim in Louisiana were 28 percent higher than the median of 14 study states for a similar set of 2003/2006 claims, according to a new study by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).

All components of overall costs per claim were higher in Louisiana than in the other study states – medical payments per claim, indemnity benefits per claim with more than seven days of lost time, and benefit delivery expenses per claim.

The average medical payment per claim in Louisiana was 44 percent higher than the 14-state median for claims arising in 2003 with experience through the first quarter of 2006. This was largely due to higher-than typical prices for nonsurgical physician services and for hospital outpatient services, as well as more-frequent physician office visits and diagnostic tests, and more visits to physical/occupational therapists, according to another WCRI study, The Anatomy of Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs and Utilization in Louisiana, 6th Edition.

Source: WCRI, www.wcrinet.org