Faced with significant pushback from the workers’ compensation community, the Division of Workers’ Compensation made extensive changes to last year’s proposed utilization review regulations. It is now circulating the changes as part of a second 15-day public comment period. The regulations implement parts of SB 1160 and AB 1124 that exempt some care from utilization …
The Division of Workers’ Compensation is considering revising the Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit and Return-to-Work regulations. The idea is to target rampant fraud and abuse in a system intended to help injured workers who can’t return to their jobs acquire new skills to compete in the job market. DIR received both support and pushback from …
The Division of Workers’ Compensation is taking public comments before an April hearing on proposed changes to the workers’ comp pharmacy drug reimbursement and dispensing fee regulations. The plan includes a proposed two-tier dispensing fee that generated controversy before but otherwise aligns the program with the Medi-Cal pharmacy fee regulations. It includes modifications to the …
California legislators are setting the stage for the second half of the legislative session by introducing bills to create a single-payer health care system, expand 4850 leave for public safety officers, create a presumption for farmworkers and expand workers’ comp medical benefits for injured workers who have to travel for treatment. Legislators also introduced bills …
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will hold a virtual public hearing on April 24th to take public comment on the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s proposed regulatory changes for workers’ comp policies incepting on or after September 1st, 2023. The rule changes include a major restructuring of the classifications for the restaurant and tavern industry, updated …
The 2022 legislative session was a small year for workers’ compensation, but the industry still faces several new laws. As of January 1st, four classes of contractors are now required to carry workers’ comp insurance even if they have no employees, while brokers face new fraud training requirements to get or maintain their licenses. For …
Officials at the Division of Workers’ Compensation say a formal proposal to update the state’s qualified medical evaluator (QME) regulations is in the works and should be released shortly. The proposed regulations follow a public forum comment period that generally produced positive comments from the provider and payer community but saw pushback from some attorneys. …
Five injured workers are asking the Second District Court of Appeal to declare unconstitutional the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board’s “grant and study” procedure that can delay resolution of workers’ comp claims by years in some cases. The plaintiffs maintain there is no authority to hold such cases indefinitely beyond the 60 days the Board has …