The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) published the 17th edition of their Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation, an annual study that compares prices paid for medical professional services across 36 states from 2008 to 2024, representing 88% of the workers’ comp benefits in the U.S.
The report focuses on services commonly billed by physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors, including:
- Evaluation and management
- Physical medicine
- Surgery
- Major and minor radiology
- Neurological testing
- Pain management injections
- Emergency care
This index is a benchmark of medical inflation in workers’ comp as it focuses on services commonly provided to workers with injuries, and it provides a state-level price index to help policymakers and stakeholders conduct meaningful comparisons of prices paid across states and to monitor price trends in relation to changes in fee schedules.
At nearly 200 pages, there is a wide range of data available. What follows are key highlights.
States with no fee schedules for professional services had higher prices paid than states with fee schedules. In the six states without fee schedules, the overall levels of prices paid in those states were 35-177% higher than the median of the study states with fee schedules. States with no fee schedules also experienced faster growth in prices compared to most states with fee schedules.
The report found a median 40% growth rate in prices in the states without fee schedules, compared to a 15% growth rate in states with fee schedules.
Overall growth for prices paid for common professional services exhibited large variation across states, ranging from 1% overall growth in Connecticut to 76% overall growth in Wisconsin.
