Oakland, CA – The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) has released its Quarterly Experience Report, an update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of March 31, 2020. Highlights of the report include: California written premium for the first quarter of 2020 is 5 percent below that for the first quarter of… [Read more]
Association, Rating & Research News
NCCI Releases Report on Impact of Fee Schedule Updates on Hospital Outpatient Services
Boca Raton, FL – NCCI released a new Insights brief on the impact of fee schedule updates on Hospital Outpatient Services (HOPs). As a cost control measure, and to ensure access to hospital services, some states have implemented fee schedules that have established maximum allowable reimbursements (MARs) and rules for HOP services in workers’ comp.… [Read more]
CA WCIRB Releases Multi-Bureau Study of Historical Patterns of Mega Claims
Oakland, CA – The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB), in collaboration with a number of other workers’ compensation rating bureaus, recently released its Countrywide Mega Claims study. The study analyzes trends in mega claims, defined as workers’ compensation claims with incurred losses at 2018 cost levels of at least $3 million, across… [Read more]
CWCI Finds COVID-19 Workers’ Comp Claims on the Rise in California
Oakland, CA – The number of California workers’ compensation claims for COVID-19 continues to climb, as data from the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) show that as of August 10, there were 9,515 claims reported for the month of July, bringing the total for the year to 31,612 claims, or 10.2% of all California job… [Read more]
Coventry Releases Part Three of 2019 Workers’ Comp Drug Trends Series Report
Downers Grove, IL – Coventry recently released part three of the 2019 edition of its annual Drug Trends Series Report, which evaluates opioid trends. Coventry noted that opioids continue to represent a decreasing proportion of overall scripts and costs, with favorable trends seen in important markers such as morphine equivalent dose (MED), duration of use,… [Read more]
CWCI Releases New Online COVID-19 Claims Analysis Application
Oakland, CA – The California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) recently released an online application to support interactive analyses and comparisons of COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 claims. The new tool features integrated data from CWCI, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and the California Division of Workers’ Compensation, with detailed information on almost 600,000 reported claims for… [Read more]
Mitchell Research: Majority of COVID-19 Workers’ Comp Claims Coming From Healthcare Industry
San Diego, CA – Mitchell recently released new a new research analysis based on examination of workers’ compensation claims through the end of June 2020, noting that the data confirmed many trends it expected to see as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key findings included: Employees representing the healthcare industry sector are the source… [Read more]
AMA Report Shows Evolving, Deadlier Overdose Epidemic
Chicago, IL – American Medical Association’s Opioid Task Force recently released a new report that shows a dramatic increase in fatalities involving illicit opioids, stimulants (e.g. methamphetamine), heroin and cocaine and a similarly dramatic drop in the use of prescription opioids. The changing landscape of the opioid epidemic poses challenges for the health care system,… [Read more]
Sedgwick Institute Releases Whitepaper on Expanded Use of COVID-19 Presumption
Memphis, TN – The Sedgwick Institute recently released a new whitepaper on how the presumption of compensability has been applied in workers’ compensation and considerations in the wake of COVID-19. The paper includes the latest, most expansive application of this legal principle. With an increasing number of states, through executive order or legislation, it has… [Read more]
CWCI: CA Private Self-Insured Claim Frequency Flat in 2019, But Incurred Losses Rose $35 Million
Oakland, CA – Oakland, CA – After increasing in 2017 and 2018, California workers’ compensation private self-insured claim frequency was relatively stable in 2019 as the incidence of medical-only and lost-time claims registered only marginal declines according to a California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) review of the latest data compiled by the state Office of… [Read more]