Workers’ Comp Medical Fee Schedules: What You Need To Know

Workers’ Compensation is primarily designed to provide two benefits: payroll replacement for injured workers and medical payments to providers. But over the years, the process has become increasingly complicated. Guest Ramona Tanabe is executive vice president and counsel for the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). In this episode, she explains the WCRI’s newly updated report, available now, “Designing Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedules, 2022,” penned by the WCRI’s Olesya Fomenko and Te-Chun Liu. Medical fee schedules, relative worth or value of medical services, state Workers’ Compensation calculations? Whew. When 50 states have 50 different procedures, it can be hard to follow the numbers. Tanabe says it’s crucial to know how vastly different state payments are, payment gaps that have appeared, and how fee schedules can affect whether providers will accept a patient covered by Workers’ Comp. This informative episode explains how rates for patient care are calculated and implemented for clients hurt on the job.