Medical Costs Drop 10% in Two Years

The total amount paid for medical treatment in California’s workers’ comp system fell nearly 10% from 2015 to 2017, as did average payments for physician services, pharmaceuticals and medical-legal reports. Payments for hospital services increased and accounted for 22.4% of all medical payments. Physician services, drugs and med-legal reports combined accounted for 58.7% of medical payments. The average medical payment per claim fell, to $3,210 in 2017, from $3,374 in 2016 and $3,501 in 2015, according to a report released this week by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Ra...