Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features WCRI’s release of a new edition of its CompScope Medical Benchmarks report, which examined the Florida system and found that medical payments per claim decreased 5% in the state for 2020 injuries with experience through March 2021, likely reflecting factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
WCRI noted that over the earlier period from 2015 to 2019, medical payments per claim in Florida had grown 4–5% per year. WCRI found that impacts from COVID-19 may have included postponed or avoided medical care due to concerns about COVID-19, temporary suspensions of non-emergency surgeries during the early months of the pandemic, and declined usage of hospital care because of limitations to conserve hospital capacity. The report also includes interstate analysis, which found some contrasting results in Florida around prices paid for nonhospital professional services vs payments per service for hospital outpatient care.