WCRI reveals state with highest total costs per workers' comp claim
Growth in indemnity & medical costs both drove the increase in Louisiana’s average total cost per workers’ compensation claim.
In a recent study of 18 states conducted by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), workers’ compensation total costs per claim were found to be the highest in Louisiana.
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On the fast track
The study, “CompScope Benchmarks for Louisiana, 18th Edition,” found that the average total cost per workers’ compensation claim in the Pelican State rose 4% to 10% per year since 2012 at claim maturities from 12 to 48 months.
Increases occurred in all three major cost components of a workers’ compensation claim: medical payments, indemnity benefits and benefit-delivery expenses.
“The 4.4% annual growth rate in Louisiana from 2012 to 2016 for claims at 12 months of experience was faster than the rate in the median state at 2.9% per year,” Ramona Tanabe, WCRI’s executive vice president and counsel, said in a statement.
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Breaking down the numbers
Growth in indemnity and medical costs both drove the increase in Louisiana’s average total cost per workers’ compensation claim from 2011 to 2014 for claims at 36 months of experience, accounting for fairly similar shares of the growth, at 40% and 37%, respectively.
For the study, WCRI analyzed workers’ compensation claims with experience through 2017 for injuries up to and including 2016, and, in some cases, a longer time frame was used to supply historical context. A copy of the study can be found on the company’s website.
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