A provider of services to rehabilitating injured workers, MedRisk Inc. has seen post-surgical physical therapy cases drop by 26% in the last five years, according to an industry trends report the company released Thursday.
For its annual report, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based MedRisk examined recent changes, including relevant legislation, regulation and research, scouring its own data and other industry reports including those released by the Boca Raton, Florida-based National Council on Compensation Insurance to highlight trends in workers compensation, according to the report.
Focusing on the downward trend of physical therapy in comp, MedRisk found that from 2015 to 2018 there was a 11.19% reduction in number of physical therapy visits per case on average.
In its report, MedRisk said the change is driven by a combination of factors including “quality management practices such as the application of evidence-based guidelines, expert providers,” coaching among physical therapists and “clinical recommendations.”