PHOENIX – Inflation, health care labor shortages and unknown costs related to prolonged covid-19 are some of the top concerns in the workers’ compensation sector in 2023, according to experts.
States that have controls in place to limit costs for injured workers are likely to fare better with medical claims than states without controls such as fee schedules, they said.
But much remains unknown about how long the COVID claims will develop, they said last week at the Workers Compensation Research Institute’s annual Issues & Research conference.
Hospital payments were a major contributor to medical inflation in the public health system in recent years, and states with compliant medical fee schedules were more likely to keep physician spending at or below public health system levels, they said.
During a panel discussion on medical inflation, WCRI economist Olesya Fomenko said factors that could lead to higher medical inflation include health care workforce shortages, changes in price contracts and network discounts, an increase in medical facility fees and increased bargaining power from hospital systems, and medical provider consolidation.
A growing problem is the issue of prolonged covid, she said.
A wave of retirements during the pandemic meant more experienced workers left the workforce and were replaced by younger and less experienced workers.
The change led to an increase in work-related injuries, which contributed to increased treatment and costs. Policymakers and industry experts should be aware of the trend, says Rebecca Yang, senior public policy analyst at WCRI.
It is still unclear what effect Covid will have on comp.
Early in the pandemic, many workers infected with Covid-1
9 received only compensation benefits because, while unable to go to work, they did not require much medical care, the panelists said.During a study period from March 2020 to September 2021, WCRI researchers determined that 68% of claims were tort-only, while medical made up 17% of claims for Covid-19 skills.
About 3% to 5% of workers with little medical care early after infection were treated for prolonged covid, but half of the workers hospitalized after contracting covid-19 received treatment for long-term covid, according to WCRI senior policy analyst Bogdan Savych.
“The key thing here is that the incidence of prolonged covid varies greatly based on your experience,” Savych said.
Mr. Savych said that 18 months after the acute infection period, 20% of workers admitted to intensive care units continued to receive medical care during prolonged covid.
Long Covid claims are often expensive, and symptomatic workers received more than five months of temporary disability benefits, Savych said. Claims that did not include a long covid component had about three weeks of benefits, he said.
Steve Wurzelbacher, director of the Center for Workers’ Compensation Studies at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said compensability for long-term covid varies by state because assumptions about compensation vary by state. The definition of long covid also varies by state, he said.
Because comp systems are designed to track outcomes over several years, workers’ comp is a great way to evaluate the long-term impact of covid-19, he said.
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