OHIO COMP MEDICAL COSTS DOWN 6.7%:

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation announced recently that paid medical costs for workers’ compensation claims were down 6.7 percent, about $15 million lower than expected for the first quarter of fiscal year 2005. From July 1, 2004, through Sept. 30, 2004, the bureau paid nearly $213 million in medical costs, which is more than $4 million less than BWC spent from July 1, 2003, through Sept. 30, 2003. These real savings occurred despite medical inflation rising 4.4 percent over the past year. BWC Administrator James Conrad touted the news as a continued success for Ohio’s workers’ comp system.

An outside actuarial firm prepares the expected payments using the payment patterns, trends and development factors for the past five years. The firm projected payments of $228 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2005. The most significant areas of savings were chiropractic costs, which were 9.4 percent lower than expected, and rehabilitation expenses, which were 7.9 percent lower.