2021 PA Workers’ Compensation Average Weekly Wage / Medical Fee Reimbursement Increases Announced

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor Industry, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, will post the following announcement in the December 26, 2020 Pennsylvania Bulletin:

• For (work) injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2021, the statewide Average Weekly Wage (and maximum weekly rate) will be $1,130 – up from $1,081.
• For medical treatment rendered on or after January 1, 2021, the increase in fee schedule-tied payments will be 4.6%, up from 3.1%.

All claims handlers and medical bill repricers must be aware of these changes now and make sure they are in place as soon as January 1, 2021.  

In the past, some medical bill repricers have not acted quickly enough on annual changes, resulting in countless unnecessary fee reviews and penalty petitions.

The BWC's note on the increases reads:

"The 2021 Statewide Average Weekly Wage Workers’ Compensation Rate Schedule has been approved by the Secretary of Labor and Industry and it will be published in the PA Bulletin on December 26, 2020. We offer advance notice of the schedule at this time so that our stakeholders may initiate any updates to their operating systems that rely on this calculation. The following notice has been prepared for our Press Office to update the L&I website when the wage and rate schedule has been published in the PA Bulletin.

Pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Act, Section 105.1, the Department of Labor & Industry has determined the statewide average weekly wage for injuries occurring on and after January 1, 2021, shall be $1,130.00 per week. For purposes of calculating the update to payments for medical treatment rendered on and after January 1, 2021, the percentage increase in the statewide average weekly wage is 4.6 percent."