HCAI Data: Most MIG Claimants Continue to Receive Some Treatment After Completing MIG Treatment

The IBC has now published the standard HCAI reports for the first half of 2014. The document provides over 75 pages of aggregate data collected by HCAI going back to 2011. HCAI was made mandatory on February 1, 2011.

The standard reports are published on an “accident half year” basis. In accident half year statistics, the experience of all claims with accident dates in the same accident half year is grouped together. The accident half years are defined as calendar half years, with January to June being the first half and July to December being the second half for each of the stated years.

The chart below provides some insight into what might be happening to MIG claims over time. Although as many as 75% of claims are classified as strains and sprain and should fall under the minor injury definition, only a fraction of those claims receive MIG treatment only. A majority of those claims actually receive treatment within the MIG and additional treatment outside the MIG, likely when the MIG funding is used up.  However, that is not to day that they are actually “escaping” the minor injury definition and cap.  The average cost of treatment for strains and sprains is under $3,000.

One must be careful interpreting this data.  One might want to conclude that the number of claims receiving only MIG treatment has been increased over time based on the chart below since each accident half year, fewer claims are receiving both MIG and non-MIG treatment. However, the newer claims are likely still open and many of those in the MIG only category move over time into the MIG and non-MIG category.  When you compare data from previous reports you begin to understand how the data continues to develop.  I had previously reported that for the first half of 2013, 48.3% of strains and sprains received MIG treatment only and just 23.2% received both MIG and non-MIG treatment.  The most recent report indicates that only 26.7% of these injuries have only received MIG treatment and now 53.8% received both MIG and non-MIG treatment. These numbers will continue to develop further.