Austin, TX – The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) recently released what is has designated as the last update to its report providing information on the impact of COVID-19 on the state’s workers’ compensation system.
The report provided 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.
The DWC noted that its COVID-19 data call will not be extended because of the low number of new claims, and that it anticipates that current trends will remain consistent moving forward.
Key Findings included:
- COVID-19 claims: As of April 30, 2023, insurance carriers reported nearly 100,000 COVID-19 claims and 472 fatalities to DWC. A little more than half of these claims (51%) and fatalities (55%) involve first responders and correctional officers.
- Claims with positive test or diagnosis: More than two-thirds of all COVID-19 claims (72%) involved injured employees who tested positive or were diagnosed with COVID-19.
- Denials and disputes: Insurance carriers denied less than half (39%) of COVID-19 positive test claims. Despite more than 27,000 denials of COVID-19 claims with positive tests or diagnoses, there were only 258 disputes filed with DWC as of April 30, 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 April 30, 2023, on COVID-19 claims. Specific information on indemnity and medical benefits paid for COVID-19 claims is limited to benefits paid as of May 5, 2023, on claims reported to insurance carriers as of March 31, 2023.
- 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 March 31, 2023, 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, June 2023 (PDF)
Source: TDI-DWC