Comorbidities double workers’ comp claims costs

Claimants with comorbidities [health issues identified by the treating doc] cost a lot more than patients without.

That’s the conclusion of NCCI’s latest report, and a finding all workers’ comp stakeholders would do well to consider carefully – for several reasons.

1.  The percentage of working-age Americans with chronic conditions [e.g. asthma, hypertension, depression, diabetes, etc] is large and increasing.  According to the CDC, 27 percent of Americans are obese, 29 percent have hypertension, and 7 percent have diabetes.  All are substantially higher than a decade ago.

2.  NCCI’s analysis only included claimants where the WC treating physician coded and billed for a comorbidity.  Compared to the CDC figures, this occurred in about 10% of the patients who likely had comorbidities.

3.  The “growth rate of workers compensation claims with a comorbidity diagnosis is outpacing growth rates of the given conditions in the US population.” NCCI had a couple potential explanations for this trend; I’d suggest it is likely because many WC claimants:

a) don’t have health insurance;

b) their comorbidities are hampering their recovery from the occupational injury;

c) treating docs must address those comorbidities if there’s any chance of getting the claimant back to functionality; and

d) payers are paying for that treatment because it makes financial sense to do so.

One rather stunning finding – 81% of claims with diagnoses of obesity incurred lost time.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that the rollout of Obamacare will cover millions more claimants, thereby allowing work comp payers to send bills for non-occ conditions to the employee’s health insurer.  While some states continue to resist reform, there are others (e.g. Florida) that have decided to participate after all.

What does this mean for you?

Healthier workers = lower workers comp costs.