WCRI Study Highlights Rising Joint Replacement Trends in Comp

Joint replacement surgeries are increasingly showing up in workers' compensation claims, with procedure rates rising steadily and recovery times stretching longer, according to findings released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The study, covering claims from 32 states for injuries occurring between 2015 and 2022 with two years of postinjury experience, shows that the rate of joint replacement procedures per 1,000 lost-time claims rose from 7 to 8.3 over the study period. Most of this growth reflects a shift from inpatient to outpatient settings, with inpatient jo...