Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new edition of NCCI’s Quarterly Economics Briefing, which examines the current state of the economy and the implications for workers’ comp insurance. Key findings from this edition included that employment growth in 2017 and projected growth for 2018 are holding at just under 2%, and the unemployment rate has continued to decline to a historic low below 4%.
In this edition’s “Drilling Down” section, NCCI also examined the impact of the wave of hospital consolidation since 2010. Notably, while hospital mergers can lead to operating cost reductions for acquired hospitals of 15−30%, reductions in operating costs do not translate into price decreases, with research to date showing that hospital mergers increase the average price of hospital services by 6−18%.
Find out more (including a link to the free briefs!) by clicking here!