Published: 2009-09-20 17:35:46
Author: Risk & Insurance | August 31, 2009
Medical costs per workers' compensation claim in Texas have declined significantly over a relatively short period after a series of legislative reforms, according to a recent study. However, according to the report, Texas still has higher costs and utilization than many other states for some types of medical care.
Prior to the enactment of comprehensive workers' comp reforms in 2001, the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that medical costs per claim in Texas were among the highest in a study of 14 states. Those costs, researchers said, were driven mainly by higher utilization, particularly higher use of chiropractic care. However, by 2006, medical costs per claim in Texas were 14 percent lower than the median study state.
The study -- Monitoring the Impact of Reforms in Texas: CompScopeTM Medical Benchmarks, 9th Edition-- concluded that a combination of factors contributed to that result.
Those factors included a lower fee schedule and more active management
of medical care by payors, which researchers said led to large
decreases in both prices paid and utilization of services.
Despite these significant decreases, the study noted that Texas still ranked higher than many of the study states on a number of important metrics of medical care.
Highlights of findings. Among the highlights of the study, researchers found that:· Medical payments per claim fell significantly for chiropractors. The study reported that visits to chiropractors in Texas were cut by about one-half, with the most significant decreases occurring from 2001 to 2002 (dropping from nearly 40 visits per claim to 33) and from 2005 to 2006 (dropping from about 27 visits per claim to 21).
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