CWCI: Inpatient Hospitalization Rates Level Off; Spinal Surgeries Continue to Drop

Inpatient hospitalization rates stabilized in 2024 after nearly a decade of steady declines, while spinal surgeries resumed a long-term downward trend after a brief interruption during the pandemic, the California Workers' Compensation Institute said in a report published Thursday.  Overall, workers' compensation represents a small share of hospital care, accounting for 10,322 of the 2.7 million inpatient discharges in 2024. Work comp inpatient stays fell about 50% over the last decade, dropping to 0.38% of statewide hospitalizations in 2024 from 0.82% in 2013. Over the same per...