Payments per claim for the medical care of injured workers in Louisiana were higher and growing faster than in most states, according to a 16-state study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).
The WCRI study, CompScope Medical Benchmarks for Louisiana 14th Edition, found medical payments per claim grew more than 7 percent per year from 2006 to 2011, which was a faster growth rate than most states in the study.
A major contributor to the higher average medical payment per claim was much higher hospital outpatient payments per claim in Louisiana; this also contributed to the rapid growth rate. According to the study, these results reflect the state’s reimbursement approach.
The fee schedule sets reimbursement for hospital outpatient services at 90 percent of billed charges.
However, the workers’ compensation statute calls for reimbursement based on the mean of usual and customary charges. The result of these conflicting provisions is considerable litigation.
Source: WCRI
Topics Trends Workers' Compensation Louisiana
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
5 Years After Surfside Collapse: Safer Condos, More Transparency for Underwriters 
Need Wind Mitigation? New Florida Insurer Wants to Help With That 
NAIC Victim of Cyber Incident Via PeopleSoft System 
‘Ghost Broker’ Who Procured 1,120 Policies Through Fraud Arrested 
