Key findings
48 percent of all new workers’ compensation claims in 2019 have been treated in networks, up from 20 percent in 2010.
![Percentage of New Claims in Workers’ Compensation Networks 2010-2019](../../artwork/dwc/rc191.png)
Overall, medical costs in networks still outperform those in non-network and are down 15 percent since 2010. Over the same time, non-network average medical costs increased by 11 percent.
![Average Medical Costs 2010-2019](../../artwork/dwc/rc192.png)
The overall average medical cost for network injured employees at 18 months was lower than non-network injured employees prior to the 2015 report card. This supports measures which show networks provide higher utilization of services than non-network in the first six months of injury, but less during the following 12 months.
![Average Medical Costs at 18 Months Maturity 2010-2019](../../artwork/dwc/rc193.png)
The percentage of network injured employees who went back to work after their injury increased to 94 percent in 2019, an increase of seven percentage points since 2011. The return-to-work rate for non-network injured employees has remained relatively steady at 90 percent for the same timeframe.
![Percent of Injured Employees Who Went Back to Work 2011-2019](../../artwork/dwc/rc194.png)
Physical functioning measures a person’s ability to do everyday tasks. Mental functioning measures a person’s ability to think and reason. All networks had higher physical functioning scores among their injured employees than non-network. Most network patients had better or equal mental functioning scores as well. Both of these scores among network injured employees have consistently been higher than those of non-network injured employees and the U.S. population since 2012.
![Average Physical Functioning Scores](../../artwork/dwc/rc195.png)
![Average Mental Functioning Scores](../../artwork/dwc/rc196.png)
Measures presented in this report card were created using data gathered from a variety of sources:
- Medical cost, utilization of care, and administrative access to care measures were calculated using the DWC medical billing and payment database, a collection of about 100 medical data elements, including charges, payments, and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and diagnosis codes for each injured employee.
- Access to care, satisfaction with care, return-to-work, and health outcomes measures were calculated using the results of an injured employee survey conducted by the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University on behalf of REG.
![FileName](../../artwork/dwc/rc197.png)