A coalition of employers, insurers and trade groups said it has embarked on an effort to change Louisiana's workers' compensation system with a team of lawyers and a hefty war chest.

Jai Sharma, chairman of Louisianans for Workers' Compensation, said his company–Christus Health, based in Texas, which operates in seven states–got involved because it noticed its costs in Louisiana were “way out of whack” compared with other areas.

He noted findings by the Workers' Compensation Research Institute showing that in Louisiana, worker injury recovery takes 35.6 weeks on average–71 percent higher than the national average–while the average cost per claim is 32 percent higher than the national average at $8,553.

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