Delaware Panel Recommends Reducing Workers’ Comp Medical Costs

A state panel established to address recent rate increases for workers’ compensation insurance in Delaware is recommending that medical costs be trimmed by 33 percent over the next three years.

The Workers’ Compensation Task Force voted Friday to recommend that health care providers gradually curtail their rates as they move from the current fee-for-service structure to a Medicare rate-based reimbursement formula.

But a doctor who sits on the task force said physicians may fight the measure in the General Assembly because the panel rejected higher reimbursement rates for hospitals and stand-alone surgical centers that were built into the formula to bring medical costs down by 33 percent.

The task force was established last year to address a 26 percent increase in average workers compensation rates over the last two years.