View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2017/10/24/469272.htm

2017 California Workers’ Comp Rating Bureau Geo Study Released

The California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau has released its 2017 Geo Study.

The study uses data from diverse datasets to highlight regional differences in California workers’ comp claim characteristics.

The study, which controls for regional differences in wages and industrial mix, includes 11 maps illustrating regional differences.

Findings of the study include:

• After controlling for differences in wages and industrial mix, indemnity claim frequency is highest in the Los Angeles Long Beach region (28 percent above average) and lowest in the San Francisco Peninsula Silicon Valley region (20 percent below average).
• Regional claim severity differences were more muted than frequency differences. The highest was in the Yuba City/Redding/ Far North region (9 percent above average) and the lowest in the San Bernardino/Riverside region (4 percent below average).
• The share of cumulative trauma claims is much higher in Southern California than the rest of the State with a high of nearly 10 percent in the Los Angeles/Long Beach region. For most Northern California regions, the share is 4 percent or less.
• Medical legal costs and paid allocated loss adjustment expenses are significantly higher in the Bakersfield and the Los Angeles Basin regions than in the remainder of the State.

The complete study and a mapping of nine-digit zip codes to the regions included in the Study are available in the Research section of the WCIRB website.