2011 Reforms Have Helped, but Medical Costs Still Above Median

The average medical payment per claim in Illinois has dropped 19% because of 2011 reforms that included an across-the-board 30% reduction in all medical fee schedules, according to a report released Tuesday. Yet, medical payments per 2012 claim, evaluated as of 2015, were 18% higher than the median for the 18 study states, the Workers Compensation Research Institute concluded. Between 2012 and 2014, for claims with an average maturity of 12 months, medical payments grew on average 3.1% per year, driven mainly by payments to ambulatory surgery centers, the report states. Payments per cl...