The number of California workers’ compensation inpatient hospital stays fell 1.9 percent between 2017 and 2018, for a net decline of nearly 31 percent since 2010, a new study shows.

A study from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute traces much of that drop to a declining number of hospitalizations related to musculoskeletal disorders, including spinal fusions.

The CWCI study compares California inpatient hospitalizations paid under workers’ comp, Medicare, Medi-Cal and private coverage using discharge data on nearly 32.3 million inpatient hospital stays with 2010-2018 discharge dates, compiled by the state Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

Workers’ compensation is by far the smallest of those systems, and accounted for only 0.4 percent of all discharges in 2018, but inpatient care can be one of the most costly elements of a work injury claim, according to CWCI.

The latest tally of California inpatient discharges by payer group shows that the volume of inpatient hospitalizations decreased less than 2 percent for each of the four payer systems from 2017 through 2018.

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