A new Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) study that compares prices paid for a similar set of medical professional services for treating injured workers across 36 states (that represent 87% of the workers’ compensation benefits paid in the United States) finds that prices paid for a similar set of professional services varied significantly across states, with Indiana the nation’s third most expensive state. WCRI Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation, 15th Edition, focuses on professional services (evaluation and management, physical medicine, surgery, major and minor radiology, neurological testing, pain management injections, and emergency care) billed by physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors. States with no fee schedules for professional services – such as Indiana – had higher prices paid compared with states with fee schedules. These prices ranged from 38% to 173% higher than the median of the study states with fee schedules in 2022. Indiana had an overall level of prices paid for common professional services that was 58% higher than that in the median fee schedule study state for similar services. Prices paid in Indiana also increased by more than one-third (34%) from 2008 to 2021, ranked in the middle of the non-fee schedule states. The WCRI study covers 36 states.
