Inpatient Hospital Utilization in California WC: 2008-2014 (Spotlight Report, published 03/16)

An analysis of inpatient services and procedures in California workers’ comp vs. Medicare, Medi-Cal and private coverage, based on a review of OSHPD discharge data and payment data from CWCI’s IRIS database. In addition to quantifying reductions in workers’ compensation inpatient hospitalizations in 2014 and over the past 7 years, the study identifies the 10 most common inpatient diagnosis-related group codes (MS-DRGs) in California workers’ comp for 2013 and 2014; calculates average charged and paid amounts for the top 10 workers’ comp MS-DRGs; and measures changes in the volume of implant-eligible spinal surgeries and in the proportion of spinal fusion MS-DRG discharges to total discharges across time for each payer group.