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The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) has unveiled a study identifying the major factors leading to the drop in claim frequency over the last decade.

The WCIRB report proposes that indemnity claim frequency, which presently is approximately one-half of what it was a decade earlier, can best be studied by analyzing injuries resulting from a cumulative exposure separately from all other injuries.

The report indicates that the frequency of non-cumulative injuries (these claims comprise approximately 95 percent of all indemnity claims) have been falling by about 6 percent per year over the last decade. Through a comprehensive econometric modeling approach, the WCIRB was able to identify the causes of about two thirds of that decline.

With the significant benefit increases in Assembly Bill 749 expected to generate additional claims, the WCIRB estimates that frequency will drop at a decreasing rate over the next several years.

Specifically, the WCIRB’s model estimates that while indemnity frequency will fall by 5.3 percent in 2002, 3.7 percent in 2003 and 1.7 percent in 2004.

For the full report, log onto wcirbonline.org