Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new report from WCRI that found the average medical payment per workers’ comp claim in Delaware decreased about 33% between 2014 and 2017, achieving the main goal of House Bill (HB) 373.
The study examines metrics like total claim costs, medical payments, indemnity benefits, disability duration, benefit delivery expenses, timeliness of benefit payments to workers, and others, as well as how they have changed since the bill’s passage. Key findings included that total costs per claim continued to decrease after 2017 following a series of medical fee schedule reductions (focus of the 2014 legislation); medical payments per claim decreased in 2020 due to utilization, which may reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; indemnity benefits per claim were mostly stable 2015–2020. In 2020, wages of workers with injuries and duration of temporary disability increased, which may reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and benefit delivery expenses per claim decreased overall, depending on maturity, 2015–2020.