Association, Rating & Research News

Oakland, CA – The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) recently released the Interactive Policy Year Stats – 2019 Edition report that provides premium, exposure and loss information based on unit statistical report data submitted to the WCIRB for policy years 2003 to 2016. This new format was first introduced in 2018, replacing… [Read more]

Boca Raton, FL – NCCI recently released a “What’s Trending” brief in their Insights section that examines the costs of medical transportation in the workers comp system. NCCI notes that the cost of ambulance services has risen in recent years—a single trip can exceed $45,000 for an air ambulance service and $1,400 for a ground… [Read more]

Downers Grove, IL – Coventry recently released part four of its Annual Drug Trends Series Report. In part four of the series Coventry looks at high impact drug classes like topicals, compound kits and combo packs, and specialty medications. While these classes represent proportionately low volume, they can be associated with exponentially significant costs. Recognizing… [Read more]

Oakland, CA – Oakland – New California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) research shows the number of California workers’ compensation inpatient hospital stays fell nearly 31 percent from 2010 through 2018, fueled in large part by a steady decline in spinal fusions. The study, authored by CWCI Senior Research Associate Stacy Jones, uses hospital discharge data… [Read more]

Oldwick, NJ – AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “aa-” of certain members of the ProAssurance Group. Concurrently, AM Best has upgraded the FSR to A+ (Superior) from A (Excellent) and the… [Read more]

Cambridge, MA – The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Worker Outcomes Survey Team recently received a Comp Laude® Award at WorkCompCentral’s Comp Laude® Awards & Gala. John Ruser, president and CEO of WCRI, accepted the award on behalf of the team. “Congratulations to WCRI’s Worker Outcomes Survey Team (Vennela Thumula, Bogdan Savych, and Te-Chun Liu)… [Read more]

Cambridge, MA – As policymakers and other stakeholders look for ways to improve outcomes for workers injured on the job, one health care delivery model that has received a lot of attention lately is Centers of Excellence (CsOE). Dr. Randall Lea, an orthopedic surgeon and senior research fellow at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI),… [Read more]

Oakland, CA – The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) recently released its quarterly update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of June 30, 2019. Highlights of the report include: California written premium through the second calendar quarter of 2019 is 7 percent below the same period for 2018, suggesting that the… [Read more]

San Diego, CA – Mitchell International recently released its Industry Trends Report (ITR) for the third quarter of 2019. In this quarter’s report, Mitchell executives share insights on leveraging emerging claims technology to improve strategic decision-making. Mitchell experts also identify key areas of the claims process where workflow technology has the potential to significantly improve… [Read more]

Oldwick, NJ -(BusinessWire)- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “aa-” of Great American Insurance Company and its pooling affiliates, collectively referred to as Great American Insurance Companies (Great American). Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term ICR of “a-” and… [Read more]