This study considers the association between two managed care reforms -the adoption of the 1993 Medical Legal Fee Schedule and the 2004 Utilization Review Schedule – and changes in access to workers’ compensation medical services. Using a sample of more than 900,000 claims from injured workers treated between 1993 and 2005 — before and after implementation of the medical reforms — the study measures the workers’ proximity to a choice of three active providers who saw injured workers in each corresponding calendar year. The findings show that implementation of managed care controls was not associated with a material change in access to a choice of medical providers.
Medical Care Reform & Access to Medical Care
