Long COVID-19 Claim Characteristics and Treatment in California Workers’ Compensation
Long COVID
Workers Compensation
Research
Abstract
The analysis examines the various characteristics of Long COVID claims in California workers’ compensation, including the distribution of claims by diagnostic category and affected body part, the mix of treatment payments among medical service categories at different points of development, and demographic differences between Long COVID and shorter duration COVID claims. We found that one out of every 21 California workers’ compensation COVID-19 claims from accident years 2020-2022 involved medical treatment beyond 90 days from the injury date. These small number of “Long COVID” cases consumed 82.1% of the treatment payments on COVID claims and 73.7% of all COVID claim payments.