WCRI Says Fee Schedule Reforms Achieved Intended Result

Reform of Florida’s workers’ compensation fee schedule in 2003 achieved its intended results, significantly increasing the prices paid for physician services and reducing the average payment per service for hospital outpatient services, the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) said in a report released Thursday.The offsetting trends stabilized the growth in medical costs per claim with more than seven days of lost time in Florida in 2004, following years of rapid growth at an average of 11% per year between 2000 and 2003, according to the study, "CompScopeTM Medical Bench...