By Illinois News Network
SPRINGFIELD – A study on workers’ compensation in Illinois says some costs have gone down while others have gone up since reforms were enacted in 2011.
The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute’s CompScope Medical Benchmarks for Illinois study says between 2010 and 2012 medical payments per claim decreased 20 percent in Illinois but non-hospital payments like occupational therapists and chiropractors, remained higher than other states they studied.
Despite the 2011 reforms reducing the fee schedule rates the average medical payment per claim for many services like surgery, radiology, physical medicine and pain management injections remained higher than in the median study state.
The study also says the share of non-hospital payments in overall medical payments increased from 55 percent to 66 percent. Other study findings include a higher-than typical percentage of claims with physical medicine, and prices paid for professional services – other than office visits – remained higher in Illinois than in other study states.
