The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released a FlashReport that examines the interstate differences in the time from a worker’s injury to their first medical treatment.

The study is titled “Time from Injury to Medical Treatment: How States Compare” and compared data from 18 states. They found the median number of days from injury to first treatment by type of provider, type of service and type of injury.

They found there was wide variation in the between injury and first treatment for physical medicine and specialty services like surgery, major radiology and pain management injections, across all injury types.

There was little variation however, in the time between injury and first treatment for “entry” services like emergency room or office visits and minor radiology for most injury types.

Some states showed a pattern in time from injury to first treatment across all injury and service types, which may reflect the state’s comp policies.

They also found that initial medical treatment was slightly faster for objective injuries like a fracture, than it was for subjective injuries like a sprain or strain.

The study looked at claims with more than seven lost time days for injuries that occurred between October 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015. The states in the study are Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The study was authored by Carol A. Telles and William Monnin-Browder.

Head to the WCRI site to purchase the study and read the press release from WCRI here.