Dec
5

Pandemic’s impact on workers’ comp financials has been…

A new report ($25 to download) from the National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation and Workers’ Compensation sheds light on the pandemic’s impact on work comp financials.

MCM readers will not be surprised that the impact has been pretty positive – Mark Priven and I predicted this back in September of 2020.

Several key takeaways.

  1.  Medical costs plummeted  – by over $3.5 billion – almost 12%, likely due to lower employment resulting in fewer claims, coupled with the relatively lower cost of COVID-related claims (much more on this here).
  2. Total benefit payments dropped by almost $3.9 billion…
  3. Over the last decade, the national average benefit cost per employee dropped by 10.2% – BEFORE adjusting for inflation. After adjusting for cumulative inflation of 17%, the real decline in benefit cost per employee was 27.3%. 

What does this mean for you?

Workers’ comp financials are pretty strong…for insurers and employers.

Mark Priven is a really insightful actuary. 

 


Nov
30

The state of work comp pharmacy

is pretty good.

Here are the very preliminary takeaways from the latest Survey of Prescription Drug Management in Workers’ Comp...so far 21 phone interviews completed and several more still to go.

[if you’re new to MCM, we’ve done an annual Survey since 2004, past public reports are here (respondents get a much more detailed version)]

  • Drug spend continues to decline, although at first blush it looks like the drop is less than we’ve seen in recent years
  • Opioid spend is also continuing its downward trend
  • Generic efficiency – the percentage of scripts that could be filled with generics that are filled with generics – is just shy of 100%
  • Payers are still struggling with legacy opioid patients with respondents identifying patient resistance (mostly fear driven), recalcitrant prescribers, attorneys and the lack of regulatory/legislative support as key obstacles
  • Physician dispensing is once again rearing its ugly/profiteering/self-serving/taxpayer-abusing head.
  • Payers want more transparency while fully understanding PBMs need to make a profit.
  • Topicals seem to be the latest in the scam-a-rama that is the physician dispensing industry.
  • Respondents are generally very open to non-pharmaceutical approaches to pain management – much more on this in a future post.

What does this mean for you?

PBMs and payers  – well done. Your work has saved countless lives while helping countless others regain control of theirs.

 


Nov
28

Happy Monday – for my American readers, hope your holiday was most excellent.

here’s good stuff you might have missed…

WCRI is hosting a no-cost webinar on Behavioral Health in Workers’ Compensation Thursday Dec 15 at 2 pm eastern. The webinar will discus their recent primer on BH in WC (available here for download)

The good folks at NCCI published their latest take on work comp industry financials...suffice it to say the party continues…although it may be getting close to ending.

courtesy NCCI

The final countrywide analysis of 2021 results shows:

      • WC Calendar Year 2021 private carrier net written premium (NWP) increased from 2020 by 0.5% to $38.2 billion
      • The WC Calendar Year 2021 private carrier combined ratio was 87.2%, and the operating gain was 23.7%

Meanwhile early data makes 2022 look even better; direct written premiums were up almost 10% over 2021, while the loss ratio for the first two quarters of 2022 is even lower (!!!) then 2021 (no figures cited).

Unpacking this –

  • If 2022 numbers hold up 2022 will be the tenth year in a row profits exceeded the historical average…
  • And the sixth consecutive year the operating margin was above 20%
  • Oh, and this all happened while rates decreased every year since 2014

My take…insurers are still enormously profitable because rate declines aren’t accurately accounting for the opioid hangover.

[A CWCI report addressed this issue; my informed opinion is claims without opioids are much less costly, therefore the continued drop in opioid prescriptions is driving lower claims costs…actuaries develop rates based on historical data – which is not keeping up with what’s actually happening.]

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich believes organizations aren’t valuing workers correctly…Reich notes workers are considered “costs” instead of assets, a mis-characterization that leads to all manner of bad executive decisions.

Key line –

“increasingly, corporations aren’t just production systems. They’re systems for directing the know-howknow-whatknow-where, and know-why of the people who work within them.”

Hat tip to a very good friend for the head’s up.

What does this mean for you?

  1. It’s great to see behavioral health get more exposure – it is a key driver of recovery.

  2. Actuaries use historical data to project the future; execs should factor in what’s really happening to understand where things are heading.

Nov
22

Work comp pharmacy…

has changed dramatically in the last 18 years.

Costs are much lower, brand drug usage has fallen off a cliff, PBMs are by far the dominant delivery channel, and there aren’t any real problems these days/

At least that’s what I’ve gleaned from doing 15 surveys of work comp execs on their perspectives and quantitative measures related to pharmacy.

Way back when:

Expect we’ll have the latest version of our annual survey in late January; in the meantime (and VERY preliminary:

  • generic fill rates are around 90%
  • generic efficiency is north of 98%
  • inflation trends appear to be negative – for about the 7th straight year.

Yet payers are still concerned about drugs, mostly because they are seen as major contributors to disability duration and recovery.

What does this mean for you?

Its not just the cost – it’s the knock-on effects. 


Nov
15

The state of workers’ comp

The National Academy of Social Insurance has just released its latest report on workers’ compensation. This is required reading for any serious student of work comp; it’s stuffed with insights just waiting for you.

Here’s a few.

Note – COVID’s impact on 2020 results are significant especially re medical costs and the relation of medical to other work comp financial metrics.

  • From 2016 – 2020, medical benefits paid (per $100 of covered wages) dropped by almost 25%.
  • This followed a 17 point drop over the previous five years …
    • this massive decline is (likely) due primarily to lower claim frequency
  • Medical costs…
    • totaled $27.7 billion in 2020, $2.5 billion less than 2019
    • accounted for 53% of benefits in 2020, down from 56% in 2019
    • a reminder to those who predicted massive increases in medical costs due to COVID; a much deeper understanding of healthcare delivery, cost drivers, and sources of cost data would be quite helpful.
  • CWCI’s analysis indicated the Golden State accounted for a fifth of all benefits paid (Bulletin available at no cost to CWCI members)
  • Overall, employers’ work comp payroll-adjusted costs dropped almost 9 percent from 2019 to 2020

The report can be downloaded for free.


Oct
6

Work comp drug spend – profiteering rampant in LA FL and PA

WCRI’s webinar on interstate variations in drug payments reminds us that lax regulations and absent legislators cost taxpayers and employers millions.

Slides are here – and are free to access. The report itself is here – available free to members and a nominal fee for non-members.

There’s a ten-fold variation across the 28 states studied by WCRI, with WI MN and MA around $22 in quarterly drug spend per claim, but LA and FL right around $200. A far higher percentage of claimants get scripts in the two high-spend states than in those on the lower end – and I’ll bet most of those are from dispensing physicians and attorney-represented workers using mail-order pharmacies.

WCRI looked at data from non-COVID claims less than 3 years old in 28 states from Q1 2018 to Q1 2021.

Top takeaway – overall quarterly drug payments dropped from $102 in Q1 2015 to $68 in Q1 2021 – but PA FL and CT – states with physician dispensing and/or mail order pharmacy problems – actually saw an increase – and that increase was largely driven by dermatological agents.

Want more evidence of the rampant profiteering enabled by lax regulations and compromised legislators?

  • Dermatological payments account for about 20% of payments in the median state – although there’s a wide variation, from 6% in the lowest state to over half (52%) of payments in the highest state.
  • These dermatological agents are almost always combos of lidocaine, menthol, diclofenac sodium and other generics – profiteers mix ’em up and bill at a huge markup.
  • PA is especially egregious – the vast majority of these dermatologicals are pharmacy-dispensed, and the average price paid was over $300.
  • Physician dispensed drugs accounted for more than half of drug costs in several states including Florida
  • It’s not just dermatologicals…California saw a big jump in NSAIDS driven by fenoprofen and ketoprofen…both questionable medications that have become darlings of the physician dispensing/mail order profiteers.

There’s good news too…after dermos, NSAIDs have the next highest payment across all drug groups at 18%…while opioids account for about 7% in the median states – way down from 13% in the same quarter three years ago.

I’d note that this is for claims <3 years old, and likely reflects the successful effort to avoid prescribing opioids to patients better served by other therapies.

What does this mean for you?

PA FL LA and CT  – stop screwing employers and taxpayers.

 

 


Sep
26

Watch out for gabapentin…

The CDC recently reported gabapentin was involved in one out of every ten fatal overdose deaths in reporting states.

Similar to opioids, gabapentin can cause severe breathing difficulties  – which are exacerbated when the drug is combined with other central nervous system depressants (CNS) (e.g. opioids, antidepressants, antianxiety meds).

Illicit use of gabapentin appears to be on the rise…from JAMA:

Gabapentin can produce feelings of euphoria and intoxication and can potentiate opioids’ effects. Individuals who misused the drug reported multiple reasons in a 2019 study, including a desire to enhance the effects of opioids; to achieve a “high” when preferred substances were unavailable, such as when they were living in a treatment facility or were incarcerated; or to self-treat withdrawal or pain. [emphasis added]

Gabapentin is a non-scheduled drug which became much more widely prescribed as opioid scripts declined.  Back in 2018 one out of five chronic pain patients were prescribed gabapentin (or its cousin, pregabalin). There’s some evidence that misuse of gabapentin – which is almost always prescribed off-label – often occurs after the consumer had a prescription for the drug.

And, Parke-Davis, manufacturer of Neurontin – the brand name version of gabapentin – pleaded guilty to promoting off-label use and paid a $430 million fine.

So, what to do?

First – learn more.  Start here – myMatrixx’ Shanea McKinney, PharmD penned an excellent overview way back in 2019.

Then…

  • Dig into your data – what’s been happening with gabapentin?
  • When and where possible, require prior authorization for gabapentin and similar drugs.
  • Educate patients and caregivers about potential risks of the drug.
  • Pay special attention to patients prescribed gabapentin off-label and in combination of other CNS depressants.
  • Consider recommending urine drug testing for gabapentin patients and include it in  the drug test panel.

What does this mean for you?

This looks awfully familiar. 

 


Sep
23

Friday catch-up

Here’s what happened while we were all in full September mode…

Heat is much more dangerous than other environmental risks.  It’s also insidious, kills more of us than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. In July half of Americans lived in places that had excess heat alerts. And it is going to get worse – a lot worse…go here to find out how it will affect your home.

LWCC’s Jill Leonard, CA Joint Powers’ Jeff Rush and I will be discussing the impact of climate change on workers’ comp at National Work Comp Thursday October 20 at 12:30…see you there.

[I’ll also be on a panel focused on claim fraud mitigation with Change Healthcare’s Bill Barbato and Jennifer Gant and the Las Vegas PD’s Task Force Officer Jefferson Grace; that’s Wednesday October 19 at 1:30. ]

Merrill Goozner wrote a great piece dissecting Amazon’s repeated attempts to enter the health care insurance and delivery space.  The giant is looking to acquire One Medical.

From Merrill…

A recent analysis of One Medical’s 182 medical offices showed they are located in the top 10 percent of America’s most fortunate communities. Its clientele, which stood at 736,000 individuals at the end of 2021, is overwhelmingly urban, wealthy, non-Hispanic white, and college-educated.

My take is the bifurcation of our healthcare world is widening; for-profits continue to focus on the most profitable sector, namely fee-for-service employer plans. These plans pay much more than Medicare/Medicaid while avoiding any responsibility for expensive diagnoses.

If you’re curious as to how much your business is worth, here’s a useful piece offering guidance. Key takeaways:

  • most owners and managers of midsize, privately held companies (family-owned and otherwise) operate from day to day with no clear understanding of their value.
  • A close analysis of your firm’s most important value drivers [is key]: those characteristics of your business that make it unique. Even companies in the same industry and with similar metrics may vary widely on everything from the quality of their leadership to pricing power to brand equity.

Finally, WorkCompCentral’s annual Comp Laude celebration is just around the corner – registration is here – see you there.


Sep
7

Work Comp Pharmacy Week – #2

Yesterday we kicked off Workers’ comp pharmacy week with a quick review of WCRI’s latest research.

Today we’ll focus on our annual Survey of Pharmacy Benefit Management in Workers’ Compensation. We’ve been doing this for (gulp!) 19 years, and I’m (belatedly) ready to begin the 2022 Survey. Past public versions of the Survey are available here; there’s no cost and no registration necessary.

Respondents receive a more detailed version to reflect their contribution to the effort.

Top takeaways from last year’s report included:

  • Total work comp drug spend for 2020 was about $3 billion, or about 10% of total medical spend.
    • The percentage decrease from 2019 to 2020 was 12.3%
  • That’s down from $4.8 billion a decade ago.
  • Opioid spend declined 19.3% from 2019 to 2020; Opioids accounted for 17% of total drug spend across all respondents.
  • Pharmacy management remains important despite these decreases, primarily due to respondents’ view that drugs have a disproportionate influence on claim outcomes and disability duration.

Over the next few days we’ll be reaching out to past participants; if you are a payer and would like to participate in the Survey (and get the detailed report) please leave a comment below with your contact information (it won’t be published).

All responses are confidential, are only used in the aggregate or are de-identified to protect confidentiality.

 


Sep
6

Work comp pharmacy week!

There’s been a lot of news around work comp pharmacy of late – time to dive into what’s happening, why, and the implications thereof.

No better place to start than WCRI’s just-published study on the latest in drug trends across 28 states. (register here for the no-cost webinar – September 29 at 2 pm eastern). The research looked at trends over the three years from Q1 2018 to Q1 2021 (kudos to WCRI for getting this very recent info out quickly)

Key takeaways from Dongchun Wang, Vennela Thumula, Te-Chun Liu’s research include:

  • Rx payments (all figures are per claim) dropped 15% or more in almost 2/3rds of the 28 states..but went UP in:
    • Connecticut (+22%), Florida (+17%), and Pennsylvania (+14%)(hmmmmm…)
    • notably a major driver of the increase in those states was dermatological agents…driven by physician dispensing and/or mail order pharmacy dispensed drugs in those three states (and others)
  • COVID is a non-factor; COVID claims account for <2% of total Rx costs in most states
  • Other good news – opioids continued to decline in all 28 states – A LOT. As in a decrease of 56% in the median state
  • The biggest drop in spend occurred in New York – a 43% decrease driven by the adoption of a formulary in early 2020.
  • The range in spend is really striking; as of Q1 2021, the lowest state spend for claims with any medical spend was $22 (MA, MN, WI); the highest was almost 10 times higher in – you guessed it – Florida at $201.

So…takeaways

  • States that enable/allow/don’t prevent abusive prescribing and dispensing – looking at you, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina – and others – are allowing grifters and thieves to steal money from employers and taxpayers while over-treating patients. 
  • Lotions aka dermatological agents are almost entirely a (pick your term) enabled and perpetrated by physician dispensers and some mail order pharmacies…and the lack of aggressive and useful action by employers and insurers and their lobbyists.

Forecast

Insurers and employers and taxpayers in those states are going to get hammered by these bad actors. Costs for dermatological agents rose more than 50% in PA, CT, SC, FL, GA, VA, NC and MI.

Given the lack of an effective response by payers, their lobbyists and government affairs entities, you can expect more of the same.

What does this mean for you?

  1. Great work on the opioid front – although just slashing opioids is not THE solution to pain – this requires a multi-pronged approach.
  2. re dermatological agents – Do you like getting screwed by profiteers?