Austin, TX – The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) recently released the latest update to its report that provides information on the impact of COVID-19 on the state’s workers’ compensation system.
The report provides ongoing information on COVID19 claims, including the percentage of claims that insurance carriers accepted or denied, as well as indemnity benefits or medical costs paid on claims.
Key Findings included:
- COVID-19 claims: As of February 5, 2023, insurance carriers reported nearly 98,000 COVID19 claims and 468 fatalities to DWC. A little more than half of these claims and fatalities involve first responders and correctional officers.
- Claims with positive test or diagnosis: More than two-thirds of all claims (70%) involved injured employees who tested positive or were diagnosed with COVID-19.
- Denials and disputes: Insurance carriers denied less than half (38%) of COVID-19 positive test claims. Despite more than 25,000 denials of COVID-19 claims with positive tests or diagnoses, there were only 239 disputes filed with DWC as of February 5, 2023.
- COVID-19 claims with benefits: During the COVID-19 pandemic slightly more than one-third (34%) of COVID-19 claims filed had medical or indemnity benefit payments associated with them. Most of the benefits paid on COVID-19 claims were indemnity benefits.
- Claims with post-COVID conditions: Nearly a quarter of claims (23%) that received professional or hospital/facility services received these services beyond one month post-injury.
Data sources:
- Administrative claim data that insurance carriers reported to DWC from March 13, 2020, through February 5, 2023, on COVID-19 claims. Specific information on indemnity and medical benefits paid for COVID-19 claims is limited to benefits paid as of February 13, 2023, on claims reported to insurance carriers as of December 31, 2022.
- A data call with 74 selected insurance carriers to gather more detailed information on how many workers’ compensation claims resulted in a positive test or diagnosis as of December 31, 2022, and the disposition of those claims (accepted, denied, or
under investigation).
Read the free report: TDI-DWC: Covid-19 in the Texas Workers’ Compensation System, March 2023 (PDF)
Source: TDI-DWC