The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) published the 2026 edition of their CompScope Medical Benchmarks, a series of 12 reports created to help policy makers and other system stakeholders identify current cost drivers and emerging trends in workers’ compensation medical costs.

The studies examine trends in payments, prices, and utilization of medical care for workers with injuries from 2019 through 2024, with claims experience through March 2025. The studies utilized data from 6.1 million claims across 27 states, accounting for 70% of workers’ comp benefits paid nationwide.

Across all the reports, it was noted that the following factors may be affecting medical payment trends across study states:

• Changing claim mix related to workers’ age and job tenure
• Complexity of injuries driving high-cost claims
• Prevalence of comorbidities and behavioral health concerns
• Increased utilization of newly introduced, high-priced therapies, including dermatological agents, novel migraine prevention drugs, and other injectable therapies
• Provider consolidation and vertical integration affecting care delivery

What follows are brief highlights gathered from various reports.

California medical payments per claim grew 6% per year from 2023-2025. Professional prices grew 3% from 2022-2024, driven by E&M and physical medicine growth, but changed little in 2025.

Florida medical payments grew 4% in 2025, following prior stability. Medical payments per claim were 15% higher than the 27-state median, driven primarily by higher hospital payments and prescription drug payments per claim. Prescription drugs saw increases in payment per prescription and utilization. Physician-dispensed drugs made up 64% of prescription payments.

Illinois saw medical payments per claim grow moderately in 2025, driven by higher prices for professional and hospital outpatient services. Prices for non-hospital professional services increased by 7% from 2022-2024, reflecting annual updates to the Illinois medical fee schedule. Prescription drug payments per claim increased 12% per year from 2022-2025, driven largely by dermatological agents.

In New Jersey, medical payments per claim grew 8% per year since 2022, driven by higher prices for professional and hospital outpatient services. Non-hospital professional services increased 4% per year.