The number of California workers’ compensation inpatient hospital stays fell 31.2 percent between 2008 and 2016 compared with a 19.6 percent drop in hospital stays paid under private plans, a new California Workers’ Compensation Institute study shows.

The study also shows a 2.4 percent increase in Medicare inpatient stays, and a 19.6 percent increase in inpatient stays paid by Medi-Cal, which saw a huge jump in enrollment with the rollout of Affordable Care Act plans.

To measure the use of inpatient services and procedures in the different systems, CWCI Senior Research Associate Stacy Jones analyzed discharge data compiled by the state Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development on more than 32 million inpatient hospital stays from 2008 through 2016.

Workers’ compensation is the smallest of the four medical delivery systems reviewed, accounting for just 0.5 percent of all inpatient stays in 2016, which the study notes is down from 0.7 percent in 2008, primarily due to a surge in Medi-Cal hospitalizations after 3.7 million adult Californians were added to the Medi-Cal rolls once the ACA plans became available in 2014.

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