One study shows no significant delay in workers’ compensation care occurred during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute, entitled “The Early Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Treatment for Workers Compensation Non-COVID-19 Claims,” has found almost no delays in treatment during the first two quarters of the pandemic.
The report sought to “investigate patterns of medical care access and utilization that are specific to workers’ compensation during the first quarters of 2020.”
Chief among the report’s major findings, is that “claims with injury dates in the first two quarters of 2020 did not experience any noticeable delay in medical treatment as compared with the waiting time for claims with injuries in the first two quarters of 2019.”
In fact, the study found slightly shorter waiting times for several service types in treatment of lost time claims with injuries, including emergency room services, physical medicine, major surgery, and neurological/neuromuscular testing, as well as shorter waiting times from…
