Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new report from WCRI that examines the important design choices faced in adopting, reforming, and updating workers’ compensation fee schedules.
WCRI notes that the process is a delicate balance, and the study also includes a discussion of the substantial fee schedule changes for professional medical services that have occurred since February 2019. The study notes that design choices come down to decisions on how high or low fee schedule levels should be set; how frequently fee schedules should be updated (e.g., relative values, list of procedures, etc.); whether fee schedules should be based on the relative value units of different professional medical services, or based on some other metric (e.g., historical charges or usual and customary charges); and if based on relative value units, whether the fee schedule for physician services should use the relative values developed for the Medicare program or some other relative value scale. The study also provides inter- and intrastate comparisons of fee schedules that reflect the realities of the options.