Currently accounting for 2-3% of national medical spend, Workers Compensation is greatly influenced by the macroeconomic forces affecting the medical landscape of our economy. All constituents (providers, payers, consumers, etc.) have had to contend with increased prices and utilization of medical services, and WC will continue to bear the brunt of cost-shifting as more change inevitably occurs.
This session will provide perspectives on WC medical cost trends from both a macro and micro perspective from two leading experts in the WC and healthcare industry. We will discuss the impact that proposed national healthcare reform models will have on WC. We will delve into how our largest state, California, is addressing the impact of prior WC reforms and current WC cost drivers in a public policy context. Each speaker will address the upcoming, inevitably fierce debates between all constituents on issues such as providers facing declining reimbursement from Medicare, increased hospital costs in the area of specialist and ancillary care, changes in approved FDA drugs, use of medical information, and others.
WC actuaries will benefit from learning more about the underlying fundamentals of our healthcare delivery system, how proposed healthcare reform will impact WC, and what they can do to prepare for the coming changes.