Missouri, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa and Virginia all have two things in common that only these six states share. I had written about the two things in common a few times in the past. The title does give it away.

They are the states that still do not have medical fee schedules for Workers Compensation treatment of injured employees. In 2009, I wrote this article on states without medical fee schedules. Missouri and Iowa were lower for medical costs then, but that has all changed very quickly.

I find that astounding after it has long been proven that any state without a medical fee schedule is harming businesses indirectly. The states without a medical fee schedule were 27 - 51% higher in the cost of medical treatment.

The main similarity is they are the most expensive states for Workers Comp medical treatment according to a recently released study on medical fee schedules. The Workers Comp Research Institute (WCRI) recently released a study titled Medical Price Index for Workers’ Compensation (MPI-WC). The WCRI studied 25 states.

Tennessee was the best case example for using a fee schedule. Workers Comp medical treatment in Tennessee was very expensive before they enacted a fee schedule along with other reforms. Tennessee's medical care cost for Workers Comp is now in line with most fee schedule states. It used to be one of the highest in the nation.

Wisconsin has become the bellwether for states that do not have a fee schedule. Their medical index cost was almost 200% more than the median. Wisconsin employers are feeling the effect in their Workers Comp E-mods and premiums.

The bottom line answer to the question is that Workers Comp fee schedules are beyond critical for controlling Workers Comp costs for employers. The employers in the aforementioned state should be pushing their lawmakers to pass some type of medical fee schedule very soon.