NCCI Reassesses How Medical Inflation Is Measured

Medical costs can account for half or more of benefits paid to injured workers, so the rate of medical inflation is watched closely by many in the workers’ comp industry. Now, the National Council on Compensation Insurance is encouraging the use of a relatively new measure of medical inflation: the Personal Health Care index. The PHC more closely reflects the mix of medical services in workers’ compensation as compared to the medical Consumer Price Index, a commonly used measure of inflation, NCCI said. Over the past decade, PHC has shown slower growth in medical costs than the m...