Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog
Our Boston worker’s compensation lawyers recently read about a study by the Cambridge-based Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The study found that there are dramatic differences among worker’s comp medical fee schedule levels in the 43 states which use them. It used each state’s Medicare fee schedule as a benchmark, although it also recognized that the optimum level of fee schedule rates may not be the same as Medicare.
Only three states, Massachusetts, California, and Florida, set workers’ comp fee schedule rates without 20% of the Medicare rates in those states. Massachusetts’ workers’ comp fee schedule rates were only 8% above Medicare, while Alaska’s rates were 215% above Medicare rates in the state. Five other states also set their rates at levels more than double Medicare rates in the state.
Creating a workers’ comp medical fee schedule is a delicate matter, because if rates are too high, the schedule may not meet the goal of cost containment. However, rates that are too low may jeopardize injured workers‘ access to quality healthcare.
Source: WCRI Found Significant Differences in State Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedule Levels When Compared to State Medicare Rates, BusinessWire.com, August 10, 2010
Contact a Boston workers’ comp lawyer if you have been injured on the job and are not receiving the medical attention to which you are entitled.
