Work Comp Payers Lack Bargaining Power With Hospitals, Researchers Say

Private commercial insurers typically pay more for hospital services than Medicare rates, but the difference is especially dramatic for workers’ comp and auto insurers, according to a new study that looked at payments to 153 Florida hospitals. The researchers, Ge Bai and Gerard Anderson from Johns Hopkins University, found that median prices paid for hospital services by health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations grew, from 1.9 times the Medicare rates in 2010, to 2.5 times the Medicare rates in 2016. But for another category of private payers, which included...