Ed Olsen
Director of Claims Performance Consulting, CPCU
The National CPI for All Services, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in February 2018 is 123.56, which reflects a 2.7 percent decrease since Q2 2017 and eliminates the decrease experience seen in the previous quarter. For the same period of time, Q2 2017 to Q3 2017, the National Auto Casualty MPI decreased 1.37 percent and as of February 2018, sits at 118.2. Since Q1 2006, the MPI has increased 18.2 percent while the National CPI for All Services increased 23.6 percent.
The National Auto Casualty MPI decreased 1.37 percent and as of February 2018, sits at 118.2
- Charges associated with physical medicine services remained virtually unchanged having experienced a 0.68 percent decrease from Q2 2017 to Q3 2017. Physical medicine has seen a 4.2 percent increase in unit charge since Q1 2006. Please recall that the physical medicine MPI is looking strictly at unit charge while holding utilization constant.
- The unit cost for major radiology services decreased 1.24 percent in Q3 2017 from Q2 2017 and as of February 2018, sits at 120.64. MPI remains 20.64 percent higher than its Q1 2006 benchmark unit charge.
- The unit cost for evaluation and management services remained virtually unchanged having experienced a 1.1 percent decrease in Q3 2017 when compared to its Q2 2017 result. Since Q1 2016, evaluation and management services have seen unit charge increase 178.7 percent as reflected by the index value 178.73.
- In Q3 2017, professional services in the emergency room experienced a 1.5 percent decrease since Q2 2017. With this slight correction, this service group has still experienced a 102 percent increase in unit charge since Q1 2006.
(Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, adjusted. Consumer Price Index- All Services- All Urban Consumers, Series CUUR0000SA0. Available at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?cu) 
