Report: Workers’ Comp Networks Deliver Lower Costs, Faster Return to Work
- Injured workers treated in Texas’ certified workers’ comp health care networks had lower medical costs, received care faster, were more satisfied and returned to work sooner than workers treated outside networks, according to the 2026 Workers’ Compensation Network Report Card from the Texas Department of Insurance’s Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group.
- Six months after injury, the average cost per claim was $2,941 for network claims and $3,297 for non-network claims. For lost-time claims, network costs averaged $7,409, compared with $8,901 outside networks. Two networks had higher overall costs than non-network care.
- Network claims reached a first non-emergency treatment in an average of 3.9 days, compared with 5.1 days for non-network claims. In a survey of 2,161 injured workers, 90% of network patients said they had gone back to work at some point, compared with 81% of non-network patients. Network patients reported missing an average of 8 weeks of work, compared with 14 weeks.
- The biennial report covers injuries from June 1, 2023, through May 31, 2025, involving about 220,000 network and 216,000 non-network injured employees. Texas had 22 certified networks covering 254 counties as of March 10, 2026.
Ohio Court: Worker Can Refile Comp Appeal a Third Time Under Saving Statute
- Ohio’s 8th District Court of Appeals on Oct. 29 revived a city of Cleveland employee’s workers’ comp appeal, holding that Ohio’s saving statute let her refile it a third time.
- Patrice Brown appealed the Industrial Commission’s November 2022 denial of an additional allowance for a spinal injury. She voluntarily dismissed her first court complaint, refiled, and had the second complaint dismissed without prejudice after she missed a deposition and the final pretrial. She refiled within a year.
- The trial court dismissed the third complaint for lack of jurisdiction. The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the city argued the statute of limitations had run and that she had already used the saving statute once.
- The appeals court reversed, relying on the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Kohn v. Glenmede Trust Co. that the saving statute doesn’t limit how many times a timely commenced action can be refiled after a dismissal otherwise than on the merits.
Rikers Island Officer Sentenced to Probation for $200,000 Workers’ Comp Fraud
- Jovanny Concepcion, 34, a former New York City Department of Correction officer from Ronkonkoma, was sentenced Oct. 23 to two years of probation, including eight months of home detention and 300 hours of community service, after admitting he lied about on-the-job injuries and collected more than $200,000 in workers’ compensation payments. He must pay $232,000 in forfeiture and restitution.
- Concepcion pleaded guilty June 1 to making a false statement related to health care matters before Judge Lewis J. Liman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He lied to the state Workers’ Compensation Board, its physicians and third-party medical examiners about injuries he claimed to have suffered in use-of-force incidents with inmates on Rikers Island.
- Concepcion became a correction officer in June 2017 and resigned in April 2021, when he earned $60,000 a year. The city’s investigation began after multiple agencies reported excessive workers’ compensation claims involving city correction officers.
- Another former Rikers officer previously pleaded guilty before the same judge to similar charges and agreed to repay $370,000 in restitution and forfeiture. State Inspector General Lucy Lang said Concepcion “betrayed that trust, abused public resources, and undermined a system meant to protect workers who are legitimately injured on the job.”