The WCIRB expands its research on regional differences in California workers’ compensation claim costs and frequency with the release of its second report, the 2016 Study of Geographic Differences in California Workers’ Compensation Claim Costs. The Study, which controls for wage level differences and industrial mix, includes nine new maps illustrating regional differences.

Earlier this month the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) announced the results of its bi-annual nationwide study of the costs of workers’ compensation programs for 2016. According to that study, California once again is the worst state in the union in terms of costs. It ranks at 176% of the study median. It is a good distance away from the second highest state, New Jersey, which ranks 158% of the study median. Rounding off the worst five, third worst is New York at 154%, Connecticut is the fourth worst at at 149%, and fifth is Alaska also at 149%.

To sum it up, California ranks as the most costly workers’ compensation program in the nation, and Los Angeles is the most costly region in the most costly state. You might call that ground zero.

Key findings of the new WCIRB Regional Study include:

1) The Los Angeles/Long Beach area continues to show higher indemnity claim frequencies than the rest of California, while the Silicon Valley region continues to show lower indemnity claim frequencies.
2) The median permanent disability rating is higher in northern regions of California than in the central and southern regions.
3) The Los Angeles/Long Beach Area is the most litigious region in California. Medical legal costs are over 2.8% of total incurred costs on indemnity claims in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area compared with 2.0% statewide.
Pharmaceutical spending as a percentage of total medical costs also varies by region.

The complete Study and a mapping of nine-digit zip codes to the regions included in the Study are available on the WCIRB website in the Research and Analysis section.