A new CWCI study on Calif. workers’ comp prescriptions shows the use of compound drugs, medical foods, and “co-packs” that combine prescription drugs and medical foods, increased sharply in the 2nd quarter of 2007 – coinciding with state regulators’ crackdown on physician-dispensed repackaged drugs.

A new CWCI study, based on claims from AY 2002 through March 2008, provides updated data on average temporary disability payments and paid TD days measured at 12 and 24 months following the initial TD payment.

A new CWCI analysis, based on claims experience from AY 2002 through June 2009, takes an updated look at the development of California workers’ comp paid medical costs.

New CWCI Research finds that the use of network providers to deliver medical services to injured workers, which rose sharply following the introduction of MPNs, has continued, albeit at a slower pace, as has the growth in the percentage of medical dollars flowing to network providers.

A new CWCI study shows the duplicate spinal implant pass-through payments allowed for hardware and instrumentation in California workers’ comp back surgeries were paid on nearly 3,600 claims in 2008, boosting payments to hospitals by an estimated $55 million.

A new CWCI “Industry Score Card” shows that most job injury claims filed by California nursing home and long-term care workers are simple medicalonly claims that result in no lost time, and about half of all claims in the sector involve strains and sprains, most of which close within a year.

A new CWCI Industry Score Card finds that a high percentage of job injury claims in California’s trucking industry result in lost time, and given the high volume of relatively serious injuries in this sector, the average medical and indemnity payments on trucking industry claims are well above the average for all claims in the state.

In the midst of the ongoing shift in the California job market and the recent weakness in the state’s economy, job injury claims by restaurant workers rose from less than 5% of all California workers’ compensation claims in 2001 to 8% of the claims in 2008, while claim payments to restaurant workers jumped from 3.2% to 5.6% of paid losses. CWCI’s latest Industry Score Card takes an indepth look at workers’ comp claims filed by restaurant workers between AY 2000 and AY 2008.

CWCI’s latest “Industry Score Card” provides detailed data on AY 2000 to 2008 claims experience among nondurable goods manufacturing workers in California. The new Score Card is based on a review of 136,742 job injury claims filed by workers involved in the manufacture of “soft goods” that are typically used or need to be replaced within a relatively short period – for example food items, apparel, and plastic goods.

A CWCI analysis of claims data from California public self-insured employers finds that paid and incurred losses on those claims peaked in FY 02/03, then declined sharply, albeit briefly, following the ’02-04 reforms.