The number of visits and services per claim is the highest of the eight states. Chiropractors and physical therapists are involved in more claims, with more services and visits provided.
Hospitals provide fewer visits, but are paid more per service.
The data in this reference work, The Anatomy of Workers' Compensation Medical Costs and Utilization, identifies where workers' compensation medical dollars go and how costs and utilization differ across eight important states - California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Texas. Those high medical costs per claim are primarily the function of significantly higher utilization of services. Comparisons were made for comparable claims across the different states. Although that utilization could be caused, in part, by differences in the severity of injuries, it is likely that medical practice and billing patterns play a major role since the patterns are similar for lost-time claims of seven days or less in duration. For chiropractors the average number of visits per claim is almost double that of the median state studied, and the average payment per service is 34 percent higher.