Dive Brief:

• Employee Benefit News predicts a shift to value-based medicine for all healthcare plans, including workers’ compensation, under a Trump administration. Value-based healthcare reportedly focuses on treatment outcomes and pays healthcare providers on that basis rather than per patient visit.
• EBN says value-based healthcare models cut costs and improve employees’ long-term health and wellbeing. It reports that the Department of Health and Human Services is already pushing forward plans that tie 50% of health providers’ payments to value, or treatment outcomes, by 2020. Private groups are pushing for payment ties of 75%, says EBN.
• EBN also predicts that President Trump’s $550 billion infrastructure plan to rebuild the nation’s road, bridges, waterways and airports will have a positive impact on workers’ comp premiums.  

Dive Insight:

States regulate and administer workers’ compensation systems, so Trump’s plans for reforming workers’ comp must proceed state-by-state. However, with so many Republicans in charge of state governments, GOP-led legislatures will likely pass laws or amendments reflecting Trump’s plans.

Now that Republicans in Congress have taken preliminary steps to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a big question now is whether workers’ comp claims that began under the law will be settled if the repeal takes hold. No one knows for certain what changes in employer mandates will occur until a law has been signed, meaning that right now, employers are largely in a waiting game.