TEXAS COMP COSTS STILL HIGH:

Workers’ compensation costs per claim in Texas increased at double-digit rates for the third consecutive year, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Workers’ comp costs per claim remain among the highest of the states in the study. At $5,320, the average cost per claim in Texas is 68 percent above the median of the 12 states in the study. The major drivers behind the increase in overall costs per claim were a growth in medical payments per claim, a rise in indemnity payments per claim (wage replacement payments for lost time injuries) and growth in benefit delivery expenses per claim (largely fueled by medical cost containment expenses). The other states included in the study, CompScope Benchmarks: Multistate Comparisons, 4th Edition, were California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Texas led the study states in medical costs per claim. At $2,931, medical payments per claim were highest among the 12 states and 21 percent higher than in Illinois, the next highest state. Other WCRI studies identified some of the factors behind higher medical payments—mainly substantially higher than average visits per claim to physicians and chiropractors, compared to physicians and chiropractors in other states. Indemnity payments per claim were also among the highest of the states studied, 28 percent higher than the median state for claims with more than seven days of lost time. The study pointed out that the higher indemnity payments in Texas resulted from a higher percentage of claims with more than seven days of lost time, a higher frequency of claims with PPD or lump-sum payments, and the longest duration (at an average of 18 weeks) of temporary disability among the study states. Average benefit delivery expenses per claim in Texas were 14 percent higher than the 12-state median largely due to higher medical cost containment expenses (claims with more than seven days of lost time).

Topics Texas Workers' Compensation