Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of of a new WCRI study that examined workers’ comp medical costs for New Jersey, and found relatively slow growth. According to the report, medical payments per claim grew less than 3% per year from 2010 to 2012, which was about half the annual rate of the prior three years. New Jersey’s medical payments per claim still however remain higher than most study states.
WCRI noted that it saw changes in both prices paid for services and utilization, with a key component of slower growth being decreases or small changes in utilization of many nonhospital services, since they make up around 2/3 of medical payments in the state. The study also pointed out the coinciding increase in the use of networks in caring for injured workers, noting their use in controlling costs in states without fee schedules (such as New Jersey).
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